


Suds on The Harley and Redemption Hangin Out on The Line

by rangerdanger985



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Abusive Parents, Alternate Universe - Bikers, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Biker Arthur Morgan, Bottom John Marston, Canon-Typical Violence, Dirty Talk, Explicit Sexual Content, Good Parent Dutch van der Linde, Good Parent Hosea Matthews, High Honor Arthur Morgan, M/M, Older Man/Younger Man, Slight Underage Relationship, Theres gonna be so many tags, Top Arthur Morgan, Underage Drinking, i mean like a few days before 18th birthday, ok here we go, remembered a tag!, watch the chapter notes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:27:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 29,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28471632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rangerdanger985/pseuds/rangerdanger985
Summary: good things didn't happen to Arthur Morgan, he was a bad man and he knew there was no changing that but maybe, for once in his life, he could have someone to care about, that wouldn't leave him behind in the dead of night.John's Marston's life had been shit from the moment he was old enough to remember but maybe, just maybe his knight didn't wear shining armor but rather, faded blue jeans and leather. Couldn't hurt to find out.or: A modern-day Morston AU that's a combination of suds in the bucket and SOA, I got the idea randomly and it ran away with me!promise it's better than the summary makes it sound.
Relationships: Hosea Matthews/Dutch van der Linde, John Marston/Arthur Morgan, Kieran Duffy/Bill Williamson, thats a tag? - Relationship
Comments: 30
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> last posted work of the year! yay!
> 
> this is a fun little project I'm working on in between my other stories and like my bethyl story it will have some triggers, they will always be mentioned in the notes at the beginning of each chapter but I don't believe it will get too bad!
> 
> for this chapter, there is child abuse mentioned, bullying mentioned by both kids and adults, a single under-aged kiss that is brushed over and leaving home at a younger age (18).
> 
> there is an age difference but it's only a 10-year difference which I don't see much problem with.
> 
> Enjoy!  
> RD
> 
> also, this isn't beta read, I looked over it and by that I mean I looked and called it good.

The rumble of an engine made john look up from the book he wasn’t really reading, looking over the porch railing at the empty street and watching with a pounding heart as a familiar figure on a dark Harley appeared followed by a faint trail of dust. The stories his childhood friend molly used to go on about all said knights wore shining armor and rode on a white horse, he thought those books lied as his knight wore faded denim and rode a dark super glide.

The rider stopped just on the other side of the white picket fence, shutting off the bike and kicking down the stand before getting off the machine and turning toward john, pulling off dark glasses and smiling.

Blue eyes glowed in the sun and john couldn’t resist, he leaped from the rocking chair and the porch all but tackling the taller man who only laughed, lifting john from his feet and spinning him around making john laugh before putting him down “careful” he said looking up at shining blue eyes and glimmering blonde hair “you might throw out your back old man”

The man, Arthur Morgan snorted, fingers laced at the small of John's back “shut up” he muttered before sealing his lips against John's, leaving the younger breathless when they parted.

“got everything?” he questioned and john nodded “just let me get my bag” he slipped from Arthur's arms and turned toward the porch, taping a note to the door and picking up his backpack from the porch, hearing Arthur's Harley roar to life at his back.

The bag securely attached to his back he walked to Arthur's bike and slid on behind him, this wasn’t the first time he had been on the machine, but it still amazed him as if it was the first time. Arthur waited for john to loop his arms around his waist before driving off, neither of them giving the quaint suburban house a second glance.

~

John and Arthur met damn near a year ago, Arthur had been doing a favor for his father and the club he’d only recently left, and John had been walking around after school, pissed at his parents for a reason he couldn’t even remember which wasn’t surprising as much as they argued.

They stopped for lunch at the same place, a food truck with questionable hygiene, Arthur had asked what a kid like John was doing in the wrong part of town and john had snapped back with wondering what an old man like him was doing outside of the retirement home. It was love at first snark and they ended up sitting on the top of a picnic table and talking for a good few hours.

Arthur was as close to a gentleman as an outlaw biker could get, giving john a ride to his classmate and friends house, Charles wasn’t even surprised John showed up on the back of an outlaw’s bike. They started to hang out with john chilling at the mechanic shop that Arthur partly worked at and partly owned, he’d call when he and his parents got into it and Arthur always picked up, rumors spread around town and school that he was fucking that Morgan fella which he wished he was but Arthur put it on the line the second time they had hung out, john was underage, and no matter what his own feelings on the mater he wouldn’t touch john.

Arthur said that he was a bad man, laid it out plain as day that he used to hurt people, maybe even killed a few but he had rules, one of them being he didn’t fuck with people that were underage, no matter what John said.

He didn’t really argue it just as he didn’t really care about the rumors going around school or the way the few people he considered friends ditched him, even reporting him to the principal who called his parents.

What an argument that had been, he’d stayed at Charles's house for three days with stinging pride and a burning face where his father had struck him.

Charles was the only one who wasn’t telling john what kind of mistake he was making, he actually approved, his understanding and kind caramel eyes far wiser than anyone else.

After hearing what was going on Arthur wanted to cut ties with him, to spare him the grief but john had leaped at the man, sealing their mouths and shutting him up the night deepening around them as Arthur went slack around him, all but surrendering himself to john until the younger pulled back.

Holding the man’s stubbled face between his palms and describing in exactly how many ways he gave no fucks about what people said, he then went on to describe exactly what would happen after his birthday in a couple of weeks in enough detail that the face between his palms burned hot and red.

Sadly, john’s birthday didn’t actually live up to the hype, they did sleep together but only in the physical meaning of the words, shirtless and tucked up under Arthur's chin, waking up early with a heavy arm over his back.

It was honestly the best birthday he could remember having, the casual intimacy between them was so comfortable, he didn’t even feel the need to take it further then. That’s not to say when they did sleep together a week later it wasn’t everything john had dreamed of since meeting the man, oh it was all of that and more, but that night, it hadn’t been what either of them needed.

They needed to know that with John's new legality nothing changed between them aside from the granting of freedom to be intimate if they so choose, well further intimate, had to make sure what attracted them to each other wasn’t the fact that they couldn’t have each other.

By the second month after his birthday, they were both confident and had been slowly moving johns personal belongings over to Arthur's house, his parents hadn’t even noticed how John's room emptied of its computer and clothes, his backpack on that last day holding the rest of his legal documents.

He left the house and doubted that anyone would notice his absence, even with his note.

John had only been to Arthur's house once before on the night of his birthday, he hadn’t really known where they were going when Arthur had picked him up from Charles house, exchanging a look with the dark-skinned man over John's shoulder before leading john to his bike.

That night he hadn’t taken the time to look at it and truly see it, but he did now, and it made his chest feel both tight and warm.

Arthur's house was almost more of a cabin, a single-story home with a wide porch and a garage where he parked and worked on his bike, an old pickup truck was sitting outside, and it was on the outskirts of town.

A metal ‘no trespassing’ sign was nailed to a tree about halfway up the drive just before the house came into sight and john just felt warm, at home. Arthur stopped out front and turned off his bike, leading john inside by the hand and the moment they stepped over the threshold john dropped his backpack and looped his arms around Arthur's neck, lifting onto his toes to kiss the slightly taller man.

“thank you” he muttered when they parted, Arthur's hands a warm weight on his hips “thank me after the angry mob comes to put me on a steak” John rolled his eyes and slipped away to punch the older man’s shoulder “there ain’t gonna be no mob, I doubt if they’ll even know I’m gone”

Arthur snorted in reply, picking up the backpack john had dropped and carried it to the bedroom, raising his voice so john could still hear him “trust me they’ll notice, I've got a reputation around town sweetheart” john rolled his eyes again and cut the man off “and I had a reputation as the high school drug dealer all through middle school”

Something heavy hit the floor in the bedroom and John looked up to see Arthur poking his head around the doorway “seriously?” john nodded and smirked “got called to the office and everything, that was a fun conversation” he looked away and yawned “got to call my science teacher a dumbass though, you’d think she’d have been able to recognize aspirin”

Arthur snorted and john could just tell he rolled his eyes, could probably see if he looked back at the man but he was more concerned with looking around the living room with its worn-out sofa and tv mounted above the hearth.

He was pulled out of his assessment by arms that folded around his middle, fingers lacing over his belly and a stubbled chin laid on his shoulder “ya know what sounds good right now?” Arthur asked.

John hummed in question, leaning back against the taller man “a nap” john chuckled “I could go for a quick two-hour nap” Arthur hummed in agreement a john turned around in the man’s arms, kissing him gently and letting warmth grow in his chest. He felt Arthur start to walk backward and distantly thought it wouldn’t be a very effective way of getting to the bedroom when suddenly Arthur was falling backward and pulling john along with him.

Arthur grunted when they landed on the couch, John's weight landing on his chest before the young man pushed himself up and gave Arthur a funny look “Warn a guy next time” he complained making Arthur laugh.

“You're fine” Arthur drawled making john frown even though he desperately wanted to smile “I almost kneed you in the dick,” he said before shifting around, making himself comfortable on Arthur's chest.

The older man stayed quiet until he settled and then looped his arms around the younger’s shoulders, sighing deeply as he relaxed into the worn cushions of the couch “quick two-hour nap?” john asked and Arthur hummed in agreement, eyes already closed.

John shifted around after a minute and grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch, pulling it over them before laying back down, arms wrapping around Arthur's ribs and head laying on one of the man’s wide shoulders “no squirmin if ya get too hot” his pillow muttered and john snorted before lifting his head to press his lips against the man’s neck.

“napping be quiet,” he said and felt the olders chest rumble in amusement, making him smile before he closed his eyes, finding that tucking his face against Arthur's throat was much more comfortable.

Sleep, for the first time in years, came quickly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am tired of looking at this thing so enjoy, it might end oddly but this work went from 3K to 11K damn near overnight so I needed to break it into smaller chapters lol.
> 
> warning for this chapter include but are not limited to:  
> mentioned child abuse.  
> false claims of pedophilia/coercion.  
> stalking(mentioned)  
> meeting the parents but they're fucking abusive assholes.  
> meeting the parents but their gay and do crime.
> 
> I think that's it but again I'm tired.
> 
> enjoy!  
> RD

Like john suspected no one noticed he had essentially moved out, not at first. The first week he and Arthur settled into a routine that included comfortable naps and amazing sex.

Arthur stopped overworking himself so much and john finished up what little high school had left for him and was working part time at the same garage as Arthur, he was there every couple days anyway so he might as well get paid for it.

What they had was working, almost too well.

Shouldn’t have been any surprise when something went wrong.

In the middle of the second week, in the middle of an amazing nap, someone slammed against the door, a demanding knock that roused john into wakefulness and made Arthur grumble in distaste.

The blonde’s brows furrowed, and his face scrunched up adorably, strands of hair falling into his face.

John had been laying on his chest, so he got a front-row view of it and smiled sleepily, pushing himself up on his hands while dipping his head to kiss the man’s slightly crooked nose.

“I’ll tell em to fuck off” he muttered, and the older man grunted slightly, not awake enough to form words, and unlaced his fingers from behind john's back, allowing the younger to get up.

Sitting on the edge of the bed he squinted at the floor to find his pants, stumbling as he tried to pull them on while standing up and earning a chuckle from behind him, he glared at Arthur who had peaked one eye open to watch him.

He really wanted to just crawl back in bed but another round of violent knocking made him change his mind, annoyance replacing the fuzzy happy warmth in his chest “go back to sleep, won't be a minute” he said causing Arthur to huff and turn over onto his chest, hugging the pillow to his face and apparently following johns advice.

Which would be a first, he must have been tired from work the previous night, John hadn’t been able to go in, so he was shorthanded, not that he complained.

The man never complained, even when he really should.

Stepping out of the bedroom he found cooper was looking at the door just as annoyed as john felt “hell of a guard dog you are” he muttered when the dog lifted his head to blink slowly at him and yawn.

John ruffled the dog's ears on the way to the door and the silence was replaced by another round of knocking “I’m coming” he grumbled and then finally opened the door, whatever he was about to say dying in his throat as the scene out front came into full view.

Parked behind Arthur's truck was a police cruiser and parked behind that was a tan car with a dented bumper that he immediately recognized, the occupants of both vehicles were standing on the porch. Two uniformed officers and johns’ parents.

The moment the door opened his mother lept forward yanking john out of the house with a cry of delight that his stalled brain couldn’t understand, not that it could understand anything else about this situation.

“what the fuck” he finally managed and pushed his mother away, not exactly shoving but still desperate for his personal space.

Go figure the first time his mother hugged him in years it would be in front of some cops which speaking of looked about as uncomfortable as he felt “what are you doing here?” he asked.

“what are we doing here? What the fuck are you doing here?” his father demanded then threw something on the ground “what the fuck was that note supposed to mean, you’re a fucking child you don’t know what you want”

His dad's face was scarlet red, and he spat while he yelled, once upon a time it would have terrified john but not now, the man was on johns’ side of the fence now not his own and he had no authority anymore.

“well I thought it was pretty simple but you obviously didn’t listen to me like always!” he was raising his voice, he could hear a low growl emanating from inside as cooper finally realized that the people at the door were not friendly.

He glanced back to see the dog was crouched and creeping up behind him, most likely to slink between his legs and go for his old man’s throat.

At least that’s what he hoped he’d do but the dog would probably go for his nuts, an easier target but that would make the cops panic, Arthur would be pissed if they shot his beloved cooper, hell john wouldn’t be too happy either.

Speaking of, the officers were trying to calm the situation, the elder's uniform said his name was gray the other officer had his mom and was leading her quietly away from the porch, speaking softly as the woman was still visibly upset which made johns heartache.

He didn’t like seeing his mom upset even though she hadn’t been much of a mom the last few years “what are you doing here?” he turned his question to the officer that looked away from his physically steaming father “john I presume?” he asked and at johns impatient nod the man jumped straight in.

“your parents called to report you missing two days ago, they stated that you had been hanging around with a bad crowd and they were worried” john snorted before the man got even halfway finished speaking “I didn’t disappear, sheriff, I moved out”

The man rose a brow “at your age?” he questioned making johns face screw up “my ‘age’ doesn’t have any part of this” he started when his father finally exploded “you are a fucking child and you will be getting in that car and coming home!” he shouted jabbing a finger at the vehicle “where you will finish your school and then go to college and do as your fucking told”

Johns temper, something he obviously got from his father, boiled over and he felt himself shaking “I am eight-fucking-teen years old! You don’t have any say over what I do or who I see you dunk abusive fucking bastard!” he was cut off by a hand in his shirt, yanking him forward and a meaty fist landing on his face.

He wished it wasn’t a familiar feeling, that the taste of copper on his tongue wasn’t as familiar as the bitter taste of coffee.

The officer grabbed his father, the second officer, smith, leaving his mother's side to drag the man off the porch while john held his aching jaw, moments from jumping after the bastard even with the officers in the way when a voice spoke from behind him.

“Everything alright darlin?” the sleepy Louisiana drawl made him glance back as Arthur walked up behind him, his shirt was unbuttoned over his barrel chest as he was just shrugging it on, and his pants were hanging low on his hips.

One hand was lifted to scratch at his head and rake back his mussed hair and he made one hell of a beautiful picture that any other time john would have admired but he was too fucking angry right now.

Cooper had also followed his master, slipping up between john’s legs and sitting down firmly, examining the scene in front of him with intelligent brown eyes “Mr. Morgan I presume?” the officer questioned.

At the sight of the officer at the door Arthur came instantly awake, standing at johns’ shoulder “s’me, what’s going on?” he questioned, playing dumb even though he had to have already put it together in his head.

If he didn’t john’s mothers’ shouts from by the cruiser with officer smith painted it for him pretty clearly “that’s the monster that’s tainted my boy!” and his sympathy for his mother was suddenly gone.

“he’s been stalking my son for the last year, please get my boy away from him” john pinched the bridge of his nose as a headache roared to life “that true son?” grey asked, making his head pound worse and his eye twitch, “I think there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding” Arthur started, his voice calm but the officer's sharp eyes silenced him.

“the way I see it, Mr. Morgan, we have two written statements that you’ve had relations with an underaged man and your keeping him against his will from his parents, so I would suggest you don’t speak unless spoken to” cooper growled from between johns legs and he could all but feel Arthur growl from behind his shoulder.

But it was john that snapped, not Arthur.

“what the fuck did you just say?!” he demanded and stepped forward, over cooper who seemed just as surprised as Arthur “you want to know what I see Sherriff?” he took another step forward and grey backed a step away.

Understandable, johns’ anger was a wild thing, snapping and biting like a rabid raccoon at anything he perceived as a threat.

These people were a pretty big threat “I see two assholes who lost their toy and that are throwing a temper tantrum, I see two cops siding with these assholes over a bunch of hearsay bullshit and I see four assholes who are trespassing on my property and need to get the fuck off of it immediately!”

The officer rose his hands, trying to calm john down but he was well passed that point “your parents were concerned about you, its understandable given Mr. Morgan’s, record” the man was eyeing Arthur again but he snapped back to john when he snapped his fingers under his nose “you leave him out of this, you didn’t want him to be part of this conversation he ain’t part of it no more”

Another step and the officer retreated down the stairs and off of the porch but john didn’t move further than the top step “the only record I care about is the one you're ignoring, those two people” he pointed towards his parents “have mentally and physically abused me since I was 14 years old, yes I met Arthur a year ago but he sure as shit wasn’t stalking me if anything I was stalking him!”

A snort from the doorway made john want to look back but he was on a roll “nothing happened between us until after I turned 18 which was a good couple months ago, and if anything had of happened it would have been completely consensual, no one got tainted and ain’t no one got kidnapped but someone is getting highly pissed the fuck off the longer you stay here!”

“Listen here you little fucker” his father started, breaking away from smith to march toward the porch but Arthur was suddenly standing at john’s shoulder with a face that john had never seen before.

It was dark and lined and tense and his eyes were cold and sharp and his shoulders widened even further, it made a shiver slide up johns spine and his father paused in his march “try it” Arthur growled out, eyes trained on johns father and his hands pointedly loose at his sides.

“now, now” smith was trying to deescalate the situation, probably the only one even thinking of that at this point “there’s no need for this to dissolve into violence,” he said and john snorted “it’s already dissolved into violence, or did you not see that sucker punch my ‘concerned parent’ landed while dealing with the hysterics”

John motioned at his mother as Arthur turned his head to face him, seeming only just then to notice the redness on his face and the blood on his lip, reaching out so john would turn his head so he could see the full mark that would bruise the next day.

It sparked something darker than anger in the man’s eyes, his lips thinning further and his head snapped to the side, anger like a physical force that made his father step backward “I’m going to give you one chance” he snarled at the man even though his words were for all four people “leave” the word was sharp enough to draw blood.

“you listen here you son of a bitch” his father was suddenly cut off by a hand that landed on his shoulder and squeezed, tightly “what seems to be the problem here gentlemen?” john looked at the owner of said hand to see a man he didn’t know, dressed in slacks and a red shirt with well-kept hair and a mustache.

Another man was standing back and talking quietly to officer smith, older with grey hair and wearing grey slacks and a blue shirt, the two men looked like complete opposites, but the officers seemed to know them.

“get off me” his father struck out, but the dark-haired man simply leaned away from his fathers’ wild elbow, and then sharp and quick he punched him in the face.

Johns's father crumbled to the ground with blood spurting from his nose, holding it and groaning and john was speechless “officer grey” the man said nodding in recognition “its sheriff now Dutch” the older man said in obvious annoyance, hand resting almost threateningly on his holster.

John didn’t know if it held a taser or a firearm but he was sure whatever it was wouldn’t end well for the sheriff if he pulled it, john couldn’t see any weapons on this man, Dutch, but he walked in a way that meant he was ready for anything.

Hands on hips Dutch rose a brow at the man “are you sure about that?” it was a question and a threat both.

Before the sheriff could say anything, the other grey-haired man spoke “I do believe Mr. Morgan requested you to leave, given that this is private property it may be a good idea to obey his request sheriff”

The man was calm and his face was lined but his stance was no less strong than the other mans who he walked toward, tisking at John's father who still sat on the ground before walking around him “hello Arthur” the man said and john could feel the blonde relaxing slightly.

“were in the middle of something Mr. Matthews, the Marston’s are worried that their underaged child was coerced into something he didn’t want” johns temper flared and he wanted to say something but a side-eye from the grey-haired man kept him silent “what exactly re you accusing Mr. Morgan of here officer?” it was Dutch speaking.

Grey opened his mouth to reply but officer smith, the calmest head present apparently, spoke over him “nothing Mr. van der Linde” it was spoken as if to remind grey as well as to answer the question “we simply got a report that young john Marston had been missing”

“do you know what I think” the grey-haired Matthews spoke “I think you got a call about a missing minor and I applaud your department's response time but seeing as how Mr. Marston not only isn’t a minor but wasn’t missing this seems like a wasted trip”

Matthews paused and looked back “how old are you Mr. Marston?” a genuine question “18” he muttered shifting from foot to foot until Arthur's hand lifted to lay against the small of his back, making him relax if only a bit.

“so not a minor” Dutch said hands on his hips and eyebrow lifted “now with all of that settled, I believe it's time for all of you to leave” John's father chose this moment to speak “I am not leaving without my son!”

Of all things Dutch actually laughed “well you are welcome to remain here Mr. Marston” Hosea said “but there is a stand your ground law in this state and given that you will both be trespassing and you have already caused physical harm to one resident it may be in your best interest to call it a day”

The threat was so thinly veiled that a blind man could see it, but not John's father apparently until his mother stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder, speaking quietly and somehow convincing his father to leave, the man shoving to his feet and moving toward the car.

“This isn’t over Johnathan!” sighing john lifted his hand, middle finger standing. His mother looked disappointed, but he didn’t give a shit and just glared as they got in the car and left in a cloud of angry gravel dust.

They now turned to the officers Dutch and Matthews lifting a brow each “if there’s nothing else gentlemen” Dutch turned away and walked toward the porch leaving the officers to exchange a look, smith appearing relieved and grey looking pissed “sorry for the disturbance gentlemen” grey ground out and then they too left.

John watched as they drove away in a much more sedate but still displeased pace and he finally noticed the bikes that were parked not far away, different from Arthur's and apparently what the two men come on.

He didn’t know how he didn’t hear their approach, then again, he had been distracted. “honestly Arthur” john looked back at the grey-haired man “I know you were raised in a barn but must you dress like it?” the old man motioned at Arthur's still exposed chest “at least try to look civilized son” the other man said, kneeling to pet cooper who with the lack of threat was wagging his tail.

Arthur huffed and rolled his eyes “we ain’t no kind of civilized” he said as if quoting something and making both men laugh “honestly, of all the things I expected to see today, that” Dutch had stood up and motioned at the settling dust on the driveway “wasn’t on the list”

John felt so out of the loop as he looked at the two men, confused and kind of in pain as he shifted his jaw “that should probably be on the top of the list” Arthur muttered before looking at john again, eyes going all soft “ya alright?” he questioned

“fine, I've had worse” john waved off the man’s concern still unsure of the two men, “I think the dogs the only one who hasn’t had worse,” Matthews said, voice tinted with good humor.

he looked into the man’s eyes, they were brown and genuinely kind and amused when they flicked to Arthur, lips turned up at the corner in a familiar smirk “Arthur, manners?” he questioned making the blonde sigh and shake his head.

“john” he glanced up at the man who was glancing down at him with amusement “this is Hosea Matthews” he motioned at the older man who smiled “and that’s Dutch van der Linde” he motioned to the dark-haired man who approached and smiled as well, genuine and full of good humor.

“pleasure,” Dutch said “we’ve heard a lot about you john,” Hosea said kindly and john was still confused “not all bad, I hope” he replied automatically making the two chuckle “I like this one Arthur,” Dutch said then motioned inside “now might we come inside?” Arthur huffed and opened the door, leading john inside and towards the kitchen.

The other two men moved towards the Livingroom, obviously giving them a moment of privacy and distracting each other with a discussion of poker of all things.

John had heard worse distractions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed, also I feel I need to mention that cooper is a labloodhound (labrador and bloodhound mix) that is dark brown with a white star on his chest.
> 
> I will be editing this when fully awake so. . . I guess enjoy it for what its worth?
> 
> I am going to sleep now, see ya next time!  
> RD


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings for this chapter.
> 
> embarrassing parent story which contains blood and injury but not in-depth.
> 
> also, the chapter is cut in half as the second half (next chapter) is explicit and shall be posted immediately after this.

Once in the kitchen Arthur turned towards the fridge while John leaned against the counter “who are they?” he finally asked the blonde, keeping his voice down as only a thin wall separated the kitchen from the Livingroom.

Arthur glanced at him brows risen before huffing a laugh “their my parent's john” he sounded amused and it took johns brain a moment to catch up “those are your parents?” he hissed eyes wind and following Arthur as he stepped around him and opened a cabinet “yeah?” he rose a brow as john leaned forward and buried his hands into his hair.

“problem?” he questioned like he was expecting the worse and John looked at him from between dark strands of hair “yes! This is not how I wanted to meet your parents!” Arthur chuckled and moved closer, lowering a hand to make john lift his head “if it helps this is kind of right along the lines of how things go in my family” he supplied

“it doesn’t help” he grumbled as Arthur lifted something cold to his face, right against the throbbing heat where his father had punched him. It felt nice and john sighed, relaxing against Arthur's hands “what was that you were saying last week about mobs?” Arthur questioned.

John opened his eyes to look up into Arthur's blue ones, seeing something close to guilt behind them “hey, stop that” he shoved at Arthur's shoulder, surprising the man “that wasn’t a mob, it was my parents being controlling dickwads”

Arthur hummed, disbelieving and all john could do was push up onto his toes, kissing the taller man softly, pulling away and resting his head against his for a moment, lifting his hand to rub his thumb over the scar on his chin, John didn’t know the story behind it because Arthur always changed the subject when it came up but he’d find out eventually.

He was too stubborn to let it go.

Leaning back, he took the ice pack from Arthur's hand and put it back against his cheek, wincing slightly “now, what is it that your parents want?”

“It's rude to talk about people behind their backs” the words drifted from the Livingroom and made Arthur chuckle suddenly, ducking his head with a shake before glancing at John, actually looking amused before shifting away.

“so’s eavesdropping” he drawled before moving towards the Livingroom, john huffed before following “come on son, you know it ain’t eavesdropping if the other folk is talking loud enough to hear” Dutch said.

He was leaned back on the couch arm propped along the top of the cushions and Hosea was sitting next to him, just close enough for their knees to touch. It was a domestic picture.

John walked over to the recliner opposite the couch and sat down, expecting Arthur to take the final third chair to his left but the man surprised him by sitting on the arm of johns chair, the action shocking given that the older man usually kept his distance from john around other people.

Then again these were his parents so he doubted they would’ burn him at the stake’ as he’d said.

Sometimes Arthur was so dramatic.

“How is everyone?” Arthur asked as he settled down, missing the amused glance that the other men shared “They're alright, bill has been picking on the new kid and tilly misses you” Dutch said.

Arthur shook his head fondly “I came by the house three days ago”

“yes but she was away with her husband remember?” john could tell he didn’t just from the way his mouth pulled to the side “what kid you talking bout?” he changed the subject “I don’t suppose you’ve seen him yet” Hosea said sounding amused “the boy is skittish, his names Kieran” Arthur suddenly hummed scratching the scar on his chin “that the one that you picked up from Colm?”

Dutch nodded “one and the same” the man's eyes flicked to john for just a moment, suddenly cautious even as his expression didn’t change “this isn’t purely a social call, unfortunately, though I was hoping to meet the one that had you tied up in knots eventually!”

John glanced at Arthur in amusement, mouthing the word at him and making the man shove at his shoulder which amused his fathers who shared another glance “were here to talk shop” Dutch finished which made john turn and look at him, finally speaking.

“Arthur does still help out gang doesn’t he?” he glanced at Arthur again with a smirk and the blonde shrugged “on occasion” he said making john roll his eyes fondly “mostly to look mean, I swear you're as soft as” he stopped when someone cleared their throat, both of them looking at Dutch “you told him?” the man asked, looking more surprised than anything else which made Arthur shrug again, folding his arms in front of his chest “he asked” he muttered

“and you told him” Hosea said, smiling fondly for some reason “what brought it up?” he asked “we were playing truth or shot” now john was the one shrugging, dropping the ice pack from his face which had started to sting in a bad way.

Hosea looked confused “truth or shot?” he asked slowly “20 questions but add whisky” Arthur explained making Dutch laugh, a belly laugh that spread as chuckles to Hosea “that sounds like a game you’d play” he teased his son who muttered something under his breath as Hosea asked “who won?”

John glanced at Arthur who was glaring at the far wall “technically me cause he just chugged the bottle when I asked about that scar” Arthur's head spun around “and then you passed out so I won” he was talking a bit too quickly, trying to change the subject “which scar?” Dutch wouldn’t let him, looking at Arthur in amusement as john motioned to his chin.

“oh, that is a funny story” Hosea grinned wickedly and sat forward “you see john” he started only for Arthur to cut him off with a frustrated sounding “pop!” that made Dutch chuckle

“hush now your father is talking” he said, and Arthur leaned his head back and groaned in dismay until john swatted his hip to shut him up.

“you see” Hosea started again “Arthur came to us at a young age and he was always such a wild child, adventurous and troublesome too, there wasn’t a day that went by he wasn’t climbing a tree or tracking through the woods, don’t give me that look Arthur”

The blonde ducked his head, shifting around uncomfortably “wasn’t that bad” he muttered, and Dutch laughed again “you were worse son!” He teased “well” Hosea spoke up to make them be quiet “one day he went out with one of the boys, how old was he 14? 13?” Hosea looked at Dutch for the answer but it was Arthur who spoke “16” he muttered, crossing his arms again.

“16! And skinny as a bean pole he was” Hosea’s eyes glittered with fond remembrance “well he and Javier, one of the neighbor’s boys, were riding their bikes home from school and this is only what we were told, we weren’t there at the time”

Dutch took over for the man who started chuckling “well Javier told us that they cut through the park and there were some girls from the school there” Hosea put a hand on Dutch’s shoulder, taking back over “apparently young Arthur wanted to show off like a prized bull but he ended up wrecking his bike”

Both old men were laughing at this point and john was biting his lip to keep from joining them, especially as he glanced up to see Arthur had buried his face into his hands his ears glowing with how red they were.

“He busted his chin open on the curb, came home grinning like a loon covered in blood!” Dutch wiped tears from his eyes “how many stitches was it again?” he questioned “8” Arthur muttered into his palm then glanced at John who nudged his hip “did you at least get her number?” he questioned holding in giggles.

Arthur's shove nearly sent him out of the chair, his revealed face glowing with heat as john finally laughed “not only did he get her number, he got his first girlfriend” Hosea grinned and Arthur shoved to his feet.

“yeah” he drawled “and you both didn’t let me touch a bike for three years” despite his embarrassment he said it was good humor smirking a little as he turned away “weren’t my fault I didn’t see the pothole under the steps” he muttered while retreating into the kitchen.

John had folded his hand in front of his mouth, biting his knuckle to calm his laughter, and watched as the two men tracked Arthur into the kitchen and then shared a glance.

“At least we didn’t say anything about the braces incident” Dutch elbowed Hosea lightly “he bled about the same amount,” the grey-haired man said fondly.

“braces?” he asked, confused and suddenly Arthur was back, eyes wide and face even darker.

“that’s more than enough stories! Don’t we have work to do tell me on the way bye” the words were rushed out and his grip on Dutch’s arm insistent as he pulled the man to the doorway making both older men laugh deep belly laughs.

Arthur's panic sent john into another round of laughing as well “I’ll call you with the details” Hosea wheezed “come by the house tonight, bring john well have a party!” Dutch was still laughing even as the door slammed shut behind the men. Arthur leaned against it, his head falling forward with a relieved sigh, his eyes closed.

John heard the bikes start up outside, roaring and making him wonder again how he didn’t hear the men approach earlier and then the sound faded.

Getting to his feet john approached Arthur who hadn’t moved and put his hand on the older man’s chest making him glance up warily but john just leaned forward to kiss him, feeling the older relax slowly and his hands come away from the door to settle on his hips.

Comfortable.

Parting they rested their heads together, eyes closed, and John couldn’t help smirking and peaking his eyes open “braces incident?” he questioned and watched Arthur's eyes snap open to glare at him.

“no,” he said and john laughed “c’mon I won't laugh” he said, grinning innocently at the blonde “ya say that, but your already laughing” john pouted to stifle his laughter “please?” he asked, blinking innocently and saw the taller man smirk suddenly, his hands sliding from johns hips over the curve of his ass and then they grasped the back of his thighs.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the smutty chapter, mind the notes for warnings,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for this chapter.
> 
> explicit sexual content.  
> dirty talk  
> discussion of wrecking.  
> slightly rough sex.
> 
> honestly can't think of anything else.
> 
> if you want to avoid the smut jump to the notes at the end of the chapter it will give you the basics for what happens and the important bits (mostly the ending)

John gasped as Arthur lifted him and then spun around, the same breath leaving in a rush as the blonde pressed him up against the door “I got a better idea” he said lowly, voice almost like it had been on the porch not long ago, sending a shiver down johns spine.

The gleam in Arthur's eyes meant he knew it, that even while distracted by cops and angry at John’s parents Arthur had noticed just what his voice did to john.

Great, like the man needed anything else to make john forget his own damn name.

“tell me about it” he replied making Arthur chuckle and lean forward, pinning him up with his chest, and kissed him in an unhurried way that lit a fire in John’s chest.

John lifted his dangling legs to wrap around Arthur's waist, his fingers tangling into blonde strands and more than happy with their position, even though he couldn’t resist smirking when their lips parted.

“ya sure this ain’t gonna fuck with your back old man?”

Arthur snorted and rather than answer with words he leaned back, pulling john away from the door and carrying him easily toward the bedroom like john didn’t weigh shit

He really didn’t want to say what the easy strength of the man did to him, even though the blonde could probably feel it, so instead, he ducked his head to bite the skin of the man's throat, making the older rumble in approval before he suddenly stopped and dropped john.

The shock of the lack of support made his hands and legs slack for a moment, just long enough to fall onto the bed.

Inhaling sharply at the weightlessness he glared half-heartedly at the blonde towering above him who bent forward a the waist, fingers sinking into John's tangled dark hair to tilt his head back further and kiss him, still tasting the lingering copper on his tongue as the kiss deepened.

The memory of john bleeding made Arthur feel all sorts of anger, made him want to track down John’s old man and beat his ass, make the asshole bleed like he hadn’t wanted to make someone bleed in years.

John must have felt where his mind was going as he slowly pulled away, hands wrapping around Arthur's face and thumbs soothing across the stubble on his cheeks, he needed to shave soon.

“don’t go getting lost now old man, were in the middle of something here” Arthur chuckled at the others soft voice, leaning into his touch “and just what would that be?” he played stupid just to hear the disgruntled little huff the younger man. “the middle of you getting ready to fuck me raw, hopefully” he was being a smartass and he wasn’t shy about it.

As much of an asshole as he could be Arthur had to admit he wasn’t shy about saying what he wanted, been like that since Arthur met him, and honestly it was probably what he loved the most about the younger man.

Wait, what?

He’d never thought that before.

It was true though; he was unapologetically and totally in love with john Marston.

Unaware of Arthur's thoughts, John’s hands had dropped to his blue shirt, unbuttoning it and pushing it open to get his hands onto that wide and strong chest, admiring the picture he made like he wasn’t able to on the porch.

Soft blonde hair covered Arthur's chest, tickling johns hands as he slid them up to push the shirt off of Arthur's relaxing shoulders and then gliding down and over his abdomen which was soft, a layer of fat hiding the dense, strong muscle below in a way that used to bother Arthur and possibly still did on occasion.

The skin shifted under his hands, Arthur leaning back to shrug the shirt off his arms and throw it to the side, revealing miles of tanned skin and dark ink, before he was shifting forward, lifting his knee onto the bed and getting into johns space, forcing the brunette to shift backward, sliding up the rumpled sheets until he fell back onto the pillows, Arthur hovering above him on his hands and knees, his eyes darkening.

“ya sure you want me to leave you raw?” he rumbled, pleased with the way john shivered, especially as he slid his palm up johns chest, hiking up his shirt “ya might end up limping if you come with me tonight”

“like I care what people think?” john challenged, making the blonde chuckle and lean down “alright” he drawled before pulling away, shifting down to bite at the skin on johns neck “don’t say I didn’t warn ya though” the man's hands slid down, opening the button of his jeans with one hand like the talented asshole he was.

Pulling away from John’s neck he shifted further down the bed, biting at john’s chest just below where he’d hiked his shirt, fingers pulling open John's jeans just enough that he could palm and tease at the bulge growing in his briefs.

The first touch made john hum and arch his back, trying to chase the pressure but Arthur pulled away, chuckling as john opened his eyes to glare at him “you, Arthur Morgan, are a tease” he said making Arthur leave the bruise he’d been working on leaving above johns navel, his lips twisted into a cocky smirk.

“said like I ain’t gonna give you what you want” he rumbled before shifting away, standing from the bed to pull off his jeans. John took this as an opportunity to wiggle out of his own clothes, pulling his shirt the rest of the way off and shoving down his jeans and briefs, kicking them off of the bed with a scowl when they tried to bunch up around his ankles.

Arthur's amused chuckle made him flush until the man shifted back onto the bed, laying a hand against John’s knee to make him spread his legs.

That was a thing the john noticed about Arthur, he liked to look, his gaze focused and powerful, seeing everything someone tried to hide from him. The first-time john had been pinned by that stare it hadn’t been in the bedroom, it had been a few months after they met, and the intensity of those blue eyes made him blush all the way to his toes.

It was at that moment that he had decided he was going to do everything in his power to make Arthur his own, to keep him around for as long as possible.

John hadn’t known what love felt like then, but he was starting to figure it out.

Sensing that John's attention was lagging Arthur shifted forward, lifting one of John's legs to bite at the sensitive skin just above his knee before laying forward, his other hand skating up John's belly, his arm settling heavily before the man suddenly sank down on johns cock.

The noise that left John's throat was neither human nor manly and if he wasn’t distracted he would threaten Arthur's life if he ever made mention of it again but the damp heat slipping slowly down his dick made him forget it, leaning his head back to moan.

Arthur didn’t usually prefer blowjobs, it was always more johns thing given that he had a weak gag reflex, not to say Arthur wasn’t good with his mouth because the man could have john coming apart in a ridiculously short amount of time, or that he didn’t enjoy it when he was in the mood for it, his rumbling as he sank lower onto johns prick evidence enough of that.

It's just something that was more part of john’s repertoire.

But john loved when Arthur got in the mood for it, how he’d let john fuck his throat even as he gagged and gasped, loved the mess it made of him and the way Arthur would just be blissed out for a few minutes afterward, the rumble of his voice, raw and abused.

Thinking about it had John’s hips twitching even with Arthur's arm resting heavily over his hips, made john bury his hands into his hair and moan, shiver when Arthur pulled back, leaving his overheating skin exposed to the air.

Opening his eyes he watched as Arthur pushed himself up and leaned over john, hands planted on either side of johns head and dick hanging heavily between his legs, Arthur laid his lips against johns, kissing him sloppily, brining his hips down to grind against john and making him whine, legs shredding and bucking against Arthur making the blonde chuckle.

“easy boah” he drawled, voice making john inhale sharply with the rough nature of it, Arthur pulled away with a surprisingly gentle bite to johns bottom lip, leaning over to open the nightstand and pull out lube and a condom, setting them on the bed before moving back in, biting down on johns neck and making him tip his head back.

The blonde pulled away from the mark he had left and soothed it with his tongue, slipping further down to bite again at his collar bone making john hum in approval, hands moving to bury themselves into Arthur's hair, pulling the blonde back up into a kiss.

Distracting the blonde with his teeth john reached down between his legs and closed his fingers around his dick, making the blonde moan, pulling away from the kiss to breathe, hovering above john and allowing him to push himself up, returning the favor of his bruising throat with a kiss of his own to the olders neck.

Arthur's hips started to twitch forward as john stroked him, chasing the pleasure until Arthur’s hand snapped down and grabbed his wrist, stilling both john and himself with sheer force of will.

“Keep that up” he rumbled “and this’ll be over before it starts” john shivered, blinking up at the blonde and being pinned by his gaze, the flush of his tanned skin, and his rumpled hair, the quirk of his kiss bruised lips.

Arthur Morgan was beautiful but never more than in moments like this.

Tangling his free hand back into Arthur's hair he pulled the blonde to his lips “then get a move on, old man” he murmured, making the blonde growl.

John watched as he reared back, escaping John's grasp, and leered down at him “You're gonna regret that” he rumbled, making john shiver with his tone of voice alone and john knew he was fucked with the way the man smirked.

Shifting backward the blonde grabbed the lube and smacked John's thigh, not hard but just enough for him to get the point and spread them, digging his heels into the mattress to lift his hips while grabbing a pillow from beside his head, shoving it under the small of his back.

Warming the lube in his palm Arthur watched this with a vague rumble of approval, letting john settle before lowering his hand, sliding a finger down between his cheeks, just barely teasing at John's ass before sliding back up, thumb pressing into the skin under his balls.

He did this twice more before john let out a sound of frustration, cock leaking onto his belly desperate for something but knowing if he reached to touch himself Arthur would just smack his hands away.

“fucking tease” he complained, lifting his hips in a way he hoped made Arthur get a fucking move on.

A chuckle from above told him it just amused the blonde “said like I ain’t gonna give you what you want” he repeated his earlier statement and John opened his eyes to glare up at him “could be a bit quicker at it” he grumbled before smirking and shifting his arms, stretching them out above himself to fold around the pillow his head was resting on, stretching out his body and showing off for the older man whose eyes skated up and down the long pale lines of him with that same sharp gaze.

The one that made John's belly and chest both go warm “I thought” he continued “you were going to wreck me, fuck me raw, and make me feel it for days” a growl cut off his words followed by the sudden sinking of a finger inside of himself.

John leaned back his head and moaned the finger quickly being followed by a second, fucking in and out of him easily as Arthur leaned down, pinning him with his weight “you're going to feel it alright sweetheart” he rumbled, scissoring his fingers before adding a third.

The stretch burned, made johns legs flex and heat build in his body, his back trying to arch as Arthur found and mercilessly assaulted his prostate but the weight of the larger man kept him pinned, voice breaking on his moans “you’ll feel me every time you sit down, won't be able to walk right for a week and just when it stops”

His hand stilled making john open his eyes, panting up at the wicked look on Arthur's face “just when your limp fades, I’ll do it again, fuck you against the wall, make you scream”

That damned voice, it had him shuddering and clenching around Arthur's fingers and then around nothing as he pulled them out, whining as it had felt so good and his dead brain couldn’t quite figure out why he had stopped.

“easy john, I got ya” Arthur soothed, voice rumbling from beside John’s ear before john heard something being ripped open, heard the hitch in Arthur's voice and the snap of the lube's cap.

Arthur's breath was hot against his cheek, the older panting as he slicked himself and then slid closer, cradling John’s hips in his hands and something blunt pushed against his ass.

He moaned as Arthur started to slip inside, his body burning even as Arthur went slow. The older was thick, no amount of prep ever really made john feel ready for him when he first slipped inside but despite his words and promises to fuck john until he screamed, he always gave him time to adjust.

The man would never hurt him, the simple truth proved every time he slowed down, the gentle murmurs whispered into John’s ear and the hand rubbing soothing circles against his ribs.

It made johns heart crawl into his throat, his eyes sting in a way he didn’t want to think about, his broken moan shuddering out of him as Arthur started rocking his hips, achingly slowly until their hips met, john’s head tilting back his body feeling stuffed to its limits.

A few minutes passed, Arthur keeping his head ducked into the side of john’s neck, refusing to speed up even as johns body ached for more, groaning john turned his head, nudging Arthur into a messy kiss, the blonde’s stubble scraping as his skin until he pulled away “Arthur” he moaned and opened his eyes, focusing on the others lust darkened blue eyes “wreck me”

As if those were the magic words Arthur growled and sat back, lifting one of john’s legs over his shoulder and pinning his hips with the other the blonde pulled back and then snapped his hips forward.

Johns's mouth fell open and his back arched, crying out as the older set a brutal pace, cock thick enough to grind against johns prostate with every thrust, john’s hands clenching in the sheets above his head “oh fuck, oh fuck” he moaned squinting his eyes open to look at the blonde.

Sitting above him, sweat gleaming on his skin and blonde strands of hair falling into eyes that were focused on John's face, the man's lips were curled into a smirk, he knew what he was doing and that’s what sent the most heat through johns belly.

Arthur liked to look, and he liked to watch, watch as John fell apart, his voice cracking with the strain the pleasure put on his body.

Liked to know he was the one doing it.

John wanted to move against him, wanted to do more than clench around that thick length but Arthur was too strong, holding him steady as he fucked john, grunting from the exertion as john moaned.

Each thrust moved him slightly, forcing him to lift a hand to press against the headboard to prevent himself from sliding up and hiding his head, his hair was damp, and strands were sticking to his face.

Arthur let go of his leg to lean forward, hand pushing the strands to the side before cupping the back of his neck, pressing a kiss to his slack mouth before pulling away shifting to nip at the shell of john’s ear.

“you’d like that wouldn’t you, me fucking you against the wall” john inhaled sharply bringing his free hand up to grab at Arthur's side, feeling the muscles under his skin shift each time he pulled out and then plunged back in, johns body burning with pleasure and his face going red.

That god damned voice, he could probably cum from it alone “pinning you there, not letting you touch yourself, drawing it out until you were begging me to let you cum” john let out a broken sound, cock twitching against his belly and fingers digging into the muscle of the older man’s back.

“Arthur” he moaned and the man rumbled, a low chuckle, “maybe I should do that now,” he said almost thoughtful “make you beg me, just keep going until you can't fucking see straight until you can't think of anything other than the way I make you feel”

The man punctuated this thought with a particularly hard thrust, their skin slapping together and the older grinding forward before pulling away again “would you like that sweetheart” Arthur bit the skin under his ear “oh, fuck, please” john moaned, wrapping his legs around the back of Arthur's thighs, getting just the slightest bit of leverage to change the angle into one that left him seeing stars with each thrust.

The blonde groaned in approval of the shift, fingers flexing on the back of John's neck “Jesus, you feel so good darlin” he rumbled, John knew they were both getting close, recognized the burn of his muscles just as he recognized the shift of the olders tone.

When he felt like talking, his words always shifted towards praise near the end “taking me so well” he rumbled his hand sliding from john’s hip just barely graze across his straining cock making john jerk and moan.

“Arthur” he abandoned holding himself in place, choosing instead to lift his other hand to grab desperately at Arthur's back, blunt nails leaving scratches as he searched for purchase “Arthur” he gasped, his back starting to arch as heat pooled in his belly, his muscles burning.

The blonde grunted, his hand finally closing around John's cock, just this side of too tight “I got you sweetheart” he rumbled, letting john have just enough room to move his hips, to fuck up into Arthur's fist and grind down on the blondes every thrust.

His orgasm left him shaking, his head falling back and his mouth falling open with a loud moan, his eyes squeezed shut and his legs shaking, hands digging into Arthur's back as the blonde fucked him through it.

Just as his body started to go slack, the pleasure slowly morphing into ‘too much, too much, too much’ he felt Arthur shutter, losing his rhythm and grunting “john” panted against his neck and the blonde's fingers tightening on the back of his neck, almost painfully before going slack.

Arthur was a heavy man, no one with that much muscle wasn't, but John didn’t mind when he went slack, body settling down on top of John's smaller one and pressing him into the bed.

The weight of it just made him moan again, softer this time.

Slowly he lifted a hand and grasped the back of Arthur's neck, closing his eyes to enjoy the afterglow, ignoring the discomfort of the mess spread between their bellies, the way Arthur's cock was growing soft and would slip out if the older shifted just right.

He just enjoyed the moment and the warm air panted against his throat; the chill of the room being kept away by Arthur's warmth.

After a few minutes, John lifted his head and pressed his lips against damp strands of hair, inhaling the scent of sweat and sex and Arthur hummed, rubbing circles with his thumb against the back of johns neck, shifting just enough to slip out and leaving john feeling both empty and satisfied.

Being the little shit that he was though, john couldn’t let the peaceful moment stretch for too long though.

“braces incident?” he questioned, and Arthur groaned, rolling off of him to press his hands against his face “we were having a moment” he complained.

John chuckled and turned onto his side to face the blonde, muscles burning pleasantly and protesting the movement “I’m just going to keep asking” he said watching the blonde rub his face before sighing and dropping his hands.

Arthur turned his head, the very vague annoyance that had narrowed his eyes leaving as they looked up and down johns body before he sighed “the first boy I kissed had braces, I was fourteen had no idea how kissing worked and sliced open my lip” he motioned towards a pale thin scar on his upper lip.

Snorting slightly john pushed himself up on one arm to hover over the blonde “well, you’ve certainly learned from your mistakes” he said before dipping down, kissing him softly, their tongues dancing between them for a moment before he pulled away and looked down, hair falling around his head.

Arthur reached up to tuck a few messy strands behind his ear, his hand staying on john’s face and thumb stroking john’s cheek slowly.

A soft gesture from a not very soft man.

“did you at least get his phone number”

And the moment was ruined.

Rolling his eyes Arthur shoved at him gently and sat up “ya just love to ruin moments don’t ya Marston” he complained but it lacked any real heat, the man pulling off the condom and tossing it towards the trash.

John laughed, even though the sight of the scratches on Arthur's back did make him flinch slightly before he was sitting up and draping himself over the larger man's back “well” he said and laid his lips against the side of the blondes throat “we can always have another moment in the shower”

With a low chuckle Arthur turned his head to glance back at john “you are insatiable” he murmured and john could only smirk “no” he said and leaned forward “I just had someone promise to wreck me an make me scream, I ain’t quite feeling wrecked yet”

A low growl left Arthur's throat and he was suddenly on his feet and spinning around, lifting john from the bed like he weighed nothing.

“then I guess I need to try harder don’t I darlin” he drawling and watched the younger man shudder before turning and walking towards the bathroom.

Where no washing actually got done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (the major part of the sex chapter) they think how they love each other but haven't said they love each other and don't because dumbasses (end)
> 
> ending part ~V~ 
> 
> Being the little shit that he was though, john couldn’t let the peaceful moment stretch for too long though.
> 
> “braces incident?” he questioned, and Arthur groaned, rolling off of him to press his hands against his face “we were having a moment” he complained.
> 
> John chuckled and turned onto his side to face the blonde, muscles burning pleasantly and protesting the movement “I’m just going to keep asking” he said watching the blonde rub his face before sighing and dropping his hands.
> 
> Arthur turned his head, the very vague annoyance that had narrowed his eyes leaving as they looked up and down johns body before he sighed “the first boy I kissed had braces, I was fourteen had no idea how kissing worked and sliced open my lip” he motioned towards a pale thin scar on his upper lip.
> 
> Snorting slightly john pushed himself up on one arm to hover over the blonde “well, you’ve certainly learned from your mistakes” he said before dipping down, kissing him softly, their tongues dancing between them for a moment before he pulled away and looked down, hair falling around his head.
> 
> Arthur reached up to tuck a few messy strands behind his ear, his hand staying on john’s face and thumb stroking john’s cheek slowly.
> 
> A soft gesture from a not very soft man.
> 
> “did you at least get his phone number”
> 
> And the moment was ruined.
> 
> Rolling his eyes Arthur shoved at him gently and sat up “ya just love to ruin moments don’t ya Marston” he complained but it lacked any real heat.
> 
> John laughed, even though the sight of the scratches on Arthur's back did make him flinch slightly before he was sitting up and draping himself over the larger man's back “well” he said and laid his lips against the side of the blondes throat “we can always have another moment in the shower”
> 
> With a low chuckle Arthur turned his head to glance back at john “you are insatiable” he murmured and john could only smirk “no” he said and leaned forward “I just had someone promise to wreck me an make me scream, I ain’t quite feeling wrecked yet”
> 
> A low growl left Arthur's throat and he was suddenly on his feet and spinning around, lifting john from the bed like he weighed nothing.
> 
> “then I guess I need to try harder don’t I darlin” he drawling and watched the younger man shudder before turning and walking towards the bathroom.
> 
> Where no washing actually got done.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for this chapter.
> 
> Uh, Meeting the family, but the family is a bunch of bikers. That's about it haha.
> 
> oh! Shovel talks! Tilly is the queen of shovel talks.

John didn’t know what he was expecting but whatever was in front of him wasn’t it, he had seen biker shows on tv along with a couple of news reports, hell he had even read about them a bit but none of that prepared him for the way the van der Linde gangs clubhouse looked.

It could have been a fucking mansion if it wasn’t for the fence that surrounded the property at the edge of the business district of Saint-Denis.

A two-storied house sat at the end of the driveway which wrapped around the side to a garage where some bikes were parked along with a couple of cars, one of the rolling doors were open and a car had been pulled in with a couple of people working on it.

Behind the building was another building that looked kind of like a warehouse but it was mostly hidden by some trees and not easily seen from the road, to the right of the house was an open area with picnic tables and a fire pit with some chairs set up around it.

People lingered about on the tables and the porch of the home, one figure he recognized immediately as Dutch, sitting on the porch and playing a game of chess, of all things, with Hosea.

Both looked up as Arthur parked his truck and john could see their grin “I’m gonna apologize ahead of time” Arthur said as he shut off the vehicular “you’ve said that three times in the last hour” John rolled his eyes while opening his door and getting out “how bad can they be?”

Arthur's snort was drowned out by a loud shout “arty! My brother! Come give your uncle a hug!” an older man with a beard and a balding head slurred only to miss a step and fall into the grass beside the porch.

John blinked at the man who proceeded to fall asleep like that and heard a sigh from beside him “drunken old fool” john looked to the side to see a short tanned man with jet black hair.

He must have come from the garage behind them as he was wiping his hands on a rag “never seen you before” distrustful brown eyes settled on John, trying to pin him in place but the man's gaze held little weight and just made john lift a brow.

Johns lack of reaction obviously surprised the man as his furrowed brows lifted just a bit and his mouth opened but before the man could speak john felt a presence behind himself “leave the man alone Javier” Arthur said, hand settling on johns shoulder “he’s with me”

Those three words made the man, Javier, do a 180 as the distrust left his eyes and his frown turned into a grin “if you trust him who am I to say anything!” he said in a slightly mocking but also sarcastic way “Javier escuella, at your service” he mock bowed at john who lifted his other brow.

“and who might you be?” Javier wanted his name, john thought for a moment about fucking with the man before deciding against it “john” he supplied.

Brown eyes opened wider and the man's grin turned damn near evil in appearance “that john? Dios Mio! You and I have some things to discuss!” the man cackled as Arthur physically turned john around “maybe another time Javier” Arthur said moving away from the man.

“John! Arthur! Glad you boys could make it!” they both looked at Dutch who had spoken and watched as he came down the porch, covering the distance between them in just a few long strides “it was an invitation I couldn’t refuse” Arthur said in amusement as the slightly smaller man hugged him like they hadn’t seen each other that morning.

Dutch stepped away from Arthur with a snort, his mustache twitching “of course you wouldn’t refuse but I didn’t expect you to actually bring john along” as if mentioning his name made Dutch remember he was there the man turned towards him and smiled.

“Hello again son” he said and john blinked at him “hi” he felt himself say “I know our first introductions weren’t on the best grounds, quite an uncivilized situation that was, I do hope this time I make a better impression” an ink-black eyebrow lifted in curiosity.

John couldn’t help snorting at the man, his tensed shoulders relaxing “I think my first impression was just fine when you broke that bastard's nose this morning” Dutch’s grin was large and his teeth were unsettlingly white in the growing twilight of the day.

“did I tell you I like this one Arthur? Because I like this one” Dutch’s arm fell around John's shoulders in a half hug, he wore an expensive cologne and the scent of leather and scotch clung to him but they weren’t overpowering.

It was just shocking to be the target of such easy affection, he never had that.

While his mind wondered Dutch led him and Arthur toward the porch where Hosea still sat, talking easily but John didn’t really hear what he was saying “don’t overwhelm the poor thing dear” Hosea’s voice cut through the chatter and cologne and the arm that had been over johns shoulder vibrated as Dutch laughed before being withdrawn.

“sorry my boy, I get carried away” the man said and john heard a snort from behind him, a hand pressing against the small of his back “you don’t get carried Dutch, you fly”

The man held up his hands as Hosea chuckled “why don’t we step inside and get a drink, make the introductions, and then we can get business over with for the night” Hosea pushed himself up from his seat.

“Pearson's cooking tonight” the older man didn’t specify what this Pearson was cooking but those words held weight as Arthur groaned in dismay “tell me tilly is at least helping”

Johns lips quirked as they stepped through the double doors “is Pearson the one you got your cooking skills from?” he teased and Arthur shoved at him, Hosea and Dutch chuckling “that would be me, unfortunately” Hosea said glancing back at john “this man can talk his way out of a noose but he can't cook to save his damned life” Dutch grinned at the grey-haired man who elbowed him in the ribs.

“what do you think I keep you around for”

John was searching his brain for a word to describe the men's interactions with each other and he couldn’t think of anything aside from domestic, they didn’t act like bikers or leaders of a motorcycle gang.

They acted like those uncles you would see at a family reunion, glued to each other's sides and snarking at every other member of the family, the uncle's kids loved to be around that let them get away with so much shit just to annoy the parents.

John knew it was just because they were in their home, even if that home had random bits of biker paraphernalia like a giant flag on the wall as you walked in proclaiming the house as the property of the ‘Outlaws MC’, or the random pictures that looked like mugshots or possibly wanted posters hanging on the kitchen wall.

He had seen just a glimpse of the men's other sides, the sharp tounges, and easy violence, the veiled threats that were spoken without being directly worded.

Whichever side came naturally to them however john honestly didn’t want to meet in a dark alley.

A dark-skinned woman was standing in the kitchen and turned when they entered, her face immediately splitting into a grin when her eyes landed on Arthur “Artie!” she squealed and left the counter, john quickly stepping aside as she dove at the tall blonde who wrapped her in a hug and lifted her off the ground.

“tilly!” he laughed before putting her down “calm down girl” he said as she basically vibrated in place “I will not calm down Arthur morgan! I haven’t seen you in months and every time I show up it seems you’ve just left! Why its enough to make a sister feel unloved it is! What's this about you retiring from the club? And settling down? When do I get to meet this elusive boyfriend of yours, at y’alls wedding?! There are some things I need to say to him”

Arthur ducked his head, looking properly chastised as the woman who was a good foot shorter and at least a hundred pounds lighter berated him. John snickered under his breath, drawing the woman's attention and sharp eyes landed on him “and who are you?” she asked in the same tone of voice.

John's lips pulled up at the side, brows lifting in amusement “the elusive boyfriend” he said and watched as the woman's eyes widened, several different emotions flicking through them, the most prominent of them being surprise.

The woman physically shook herself and turned to john, allowing Arthur to sigh behind her back “your john?!” she said and reached out taking his hand to shake it “it is so nice to finally meet you, my names Tilly, Tilly Jackson, or well, Pierre, now that I’m married”

John blinked several times at the woman “good to meet ya” he said, “it is, it's not every day my lug head of a brother can find someone that keeps him on his toes” she glared over her shoulder at Arthur who lifted his hands and ducked toward the counter where Hosea and Dutch leaned, enjoying the show apparently.

They handed Arthur a glass of amber liquid, probably whisky, and he gulped it down before refilling it himself “I have to ask john” he pulled his attention back to the woman that still held his hand “you're not going to hurt my brother are you? Because we are going to have a big problem if you are” her cheerful voice had dropped into something vaguely threatening.

“I don’t need you protecting me tilly” Arthur said from the counter “hush Arthur” she said before looking back at john, her grip surprisingly tight for as small and soft as her hands were “well john?” she asked.

John tilted his head, realizing this was the equivalence of the shovel talk and Arthur's fathers were apparently letting their daughter take the lead on it.

He wondered for a moment just how many shovel talks he would be getting that night before he smiled his most charming smile, matching the strength of the woman’s grip “the only threat to Arthur in this room is himself, and Pearson's cooking from what I've been told”

Tilly laughed, the spell of intimidation broken, before letting go of his hand to hug him “no need to worry about that, I've done kicked him out to watch the coals” she let go of john just as one of the men by the counter laughed “get Bill to help you, lazy asshole could stand to do some work” Arthur drawled sipping at his second glass of whisky, or maybe it was his third if he had chugged the second one as he’d done the first.

“way ahead of you, he’s already been on two different beer runs” she smirked at Arthur who chuckled “making him stay sober at a party, that’s cruel” he said in approval “tilly” Hosea said making the woman look at the older man “show john around would you, me and Dutch need to talk business with Arthur”

The woman nodded “I’ll finish making the introductions” she said, leaving John's side to be replaced by Arthur “it won't take long” he said, hand landing heavily on John's hip, and john smirked at the man.

“I’ll be fine, go talk cops and robbers” he swatted at Arthur's thigh where he knew a bruise had come into existence but the man avoided him easily “just try to stay out of trouble” he said with amusement, handing john the half-full glass of whisky before stepping out of the kitchen, following Dutch and Hosea into a room at the bottom of the stairs, the door of which was firmly and pointedly shut behind them.

That was more like something those shows and books made him expect “let's go meet the rest of the family” tilly said, walking out of the back door of the house and into the deepening night.

John swallowed the last of the whisky in Arthur's glass, wincing at the burn before putting the glass down on the counter and following the woman outside.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for this chapter.
> 
> discussion of illegal activities  
> fistfight.  
> hinted homophobic thought.  
> Micha.

“So what’s the issue,” Arthur asked not moments after the door closed walking over to the large mahogany table where Dutch already sat, his smile having faded to be replaced by a firm expression.

He wasn’t Arthur's father at the moment, he was van der Linde, the president of the outlaw's MC talking to his lead enforcer and former road captain.

It didn’t escape his notice how the man sat at the head of the table even if this wasn’t an official meeting.

“I’m glad you found someone Arthur, but can you trust him? You’ve told him a lot about us I’d assume” Hosea asked before settling to Dutch’s right face smoothed out despite his wrinkles, once upon a time Arthur would sit to the man's left but those days were over “wouldn’t bring him here if I couldn’t, there's no secrets between us if he asks I tell him”

Arthur moved and sat on the edge of the table, not because he lacked a seat but simply because he didn’t want to take it.

Hosea and Dutch said nothing about this move, understanding his motives “even about what we talk about in here?” Dutch questioned and Arthur nodded “if he asks, johns not an idiot, he knows we're a bunch of bad men that do bad things, but he’s given me no reason to distrust him”

He reached for the pack of cigarettes in his coat pocket, pulling one out and lighting it before continuing “appreciate the way you’ve both been behaving around him so far”

These words made both men smirk faintly “can't go scaring off our son's boyfriend now can we” Dutch said but the slip of fondness was quickly replaced by a tight expression and pursed lips “Colm has been stirring up shit again”

Arthur snorted “what else is new” he couldn’t help muttering “its different this time, we think he’s working with the Pinkertons” Arthur scowled “fuck would colm want with the FBI’s lapdogs?” he questioned and Hosea shook his head “we don’t know, it might have something to do with Kieran but we doubt it” Dutch lit a cigar before continuing in Hosea's place “the boy didn’t mean much to Colm aside from someone to beat on, what really concerns us is we found a Pinkerton tailing one of our prospects”

“Which one?” Arthur questioned, weary of a possible mole in the gang “new boy named Lenny, he checked out but the fact that there watching us so close means they might be about to do something stupid”

Arthur shook his head “and fucking with us is excessively stupid” he sighed looking at the table before looking up again “this just a warning or you need my help on a job?” he questioned and watched the corner of Dutch’s mouth tick up a bit.

He always liked how observative Arthur was “both, were working on going clean” Arthur's brows rose in disbelief “were getting old and want to retire, shit was easier back in the day but now things are just getting too dangerous”

Arthur hummed at Hosea’s explanation “bet people ain't happy about that” Dutch lifted a shoulder “only a couple, we have Trelawney sniffing around to find more legal avenues for the gang but before we can take any of them we need a bit of money and to get rid of the less than, above the table stock outback”

“so you need an escort to look mean” Dutch tilted his head, picking up his glass of brandy to sip at it “you’re the meanest looking man we know,” Hosea said and Arthur snorted a laugh, looking down at the floor as thoughts raced through his head.

The outlaws were going legal.

Or slightly less illegal.

He honestly didn’t know what to think, or if he wanted to believe it.

He could think of the club as anything other than the way it had been since he was a kid, stealing shit and running shine and later running the drug and prostitution crowed out of town, holding up select semis out of town and running it to their own distributors.

It was going to be a hell of a lot of work and a hell of a lot of ties to break “your serious, about going clean” he looked up at Dutch who smiled and nodded “the times are changing son, we need to change with them or we’ll get left behind”

Arthur chuckled and kicked out a chair, slowly lowering himself into the cushioned seat before turning to his fathers “give me the details” he said and the men both smiled.

. . .

It couldn’t have been twenty minutes when they heard a commotion from outside shouting and then a moment of silence before it sounded like something crashed. Arthur knew the sound of violence and was on his feet nearly faster than his father's.

He was the first out the door though, staring out into the yard and at something he had never seen before.

John fucking Marston smashing in the face of a bully.

It just so happened he knew this bully.

He was in no rush to intervene.

~

Introductions were a surprisingly quick thing given that only a few members of the club were present.

They all also seemed to have somehow heard of him, referring to him as some variation of ‘the john that had Arthur tied up in knots’

He was honestly starting to wonder what Arthur had said about him to these people, who were obviously his family and close friends until he got distracted by an Irish draug that set his teeth on edge.

“that john was little johnny Marston?!” he turned and looked at a pale red-headed man who couldn’t have been much older than himself and he grinned “sean! This is where you disappeared to?” he said, reaching out to grab the Irishman's hand and yank him to his feet.

He was obviously halfway into a bottle given the way he stumbled into johns quick hug and also the pungent scent of alcohol on his breath when he spoke “where else would I be johnny boy! These fellers is where it's at” he let go of john and flopped back onto the picnic table.

I see you know each other” tilly said in amusement as sean reached for his drink, scowling at the way it was empty “we went to school together, he disappeared after graduation, honestly, I thought he ended up dead”

John shrugged “I might as well be dead johnny” he cried in dismay making tilly roll her eyes and shake her head, leaving John to return to the kitchen and finish prepping dinner “two years, two years I been running with these boys, and I'm still a prospect,” he said turning around to show john the pale letters on the back of his vest.

“two years I been slaving away for these boys and young Lenny comes in, damn near guts Javier and they give him his colors, barely a month he's been with us! Its not fair I say not fair”

A snort for the other occupant of the table made him look up at a dark-skinned man who was sipping at a bottle of something “well I don’t have a habit of drinking half our shipment, your lucky we didn’t beat your ass” john snorted as sean made a sound of outrage.

“Lenny I presume?” he asked and the young man looked at him and smiled “that’s me, and I hate to sound like a broken record but your john right?” he held out his hand and john reached out to shake it “yeah, though I might get tired of that name after tonight”

Lenny chuckled “tell me about it, when I was a prospect it was ‘summers this, summers that’ every five minutes, I’m still tired of hearing my own damn name” john snorted and sat down, sean, seeing that he was no longer the center of attention, stood from his seat and stumbled toward the general direction of the house.

He bumped into bill, making the burly man growl but sean just laughed it off, lacking proper survival instincts while that drunk.

“so,” Lenny said to break the silence left by seans retreat “you and Arthur huh? How does that work?” john rose his brows and looked at the man wondering just what the man was asking about “how’s what work?” he questioned.

Lenny waved a hand “any of it, I mean I guess Arthur is attractive but he’s intimidating as fuck, I hear he’s got a temper too, last run he went on he put some mountain of a man in the hospital” john vaguely knew about the story Lenny was talking about.

John had asked about a scar on Arthur's shoulder which he’d received from being thrown out of a bar window by the mountain of a man Lenny was referring to who had decided to go after Javier when they stopped to meet someone at the bar.

The only part of the story he really remembered, given that he was three sheets to the wind when he heard it, was that the guy hit like a reno and had a glass jaw.

John laughed without meaning to and glanced at the man looking at him in confusion “if that’s what you think then you don’t know Arthur very well” the man rose a brow at john, looking doubtful “or you don’t know him very well”

Tilting his head he looked away from the man “trust me, Lenny, I know people, he might not be a good man, but he ain't a bad one neither” he glanced down “if you say so john” the man relented shrugging his shoulders.

John was about to change the subject to ask where the man was from as he didn’t recognize Lenny from high school and the man couldn’t have been older than john himself when a voice that made his lip automatically want to curl spoke from the left.

“and just who the fuck is this now?!” john looked up at a blonde man with a mustache who was leering at him, he had a patch on his vest that labeled him as an enforcer, one of the few aside from Sean to be wearing their vest, so weariness of new people was to be expected.

Outright hostility was something john hadn’t seen yet that night, even bills threats to gut Sean earlier had been in jest.

This man seemed different “first we're going clean and now we're just letting any swinging dick mother fucker walk around? What the fuck summers?” he turned his eyes to Lenny who rolled his eyes, sipping from his bottle.

“fuck off Micah”

Micah.

Tilly had mentioned something about a Micah earlier, something along the lines of ‘don’t find yourself alone with him’, or close to it

The man's arrival didn’t go unnoticed and john watched from the corner of his eye as bill and Pearson both turned away from the fire to watch the man, a skinny young man john hadn’t gotten a chance to meet yet being shooed away by bill.

Even Sean seemed to be swaying less than usual and the old grey-haired drunk that he'd been unfortunately introduced to by the name of uncle and nothing else, even seemed more aware than usual.

If john turned his head and his eyes away from Micah he would notice Javier and a couple of other men stepping out of the garage, wiping their hands and watching.

That much attention on one-man meant he was either dangerous or unstable, possibly both.

Good thing john grew up with dangerous and unpredictable “why don’t you ask this swinging dick mother fucker what he’s doing here, his ears work just fine” john felt himself saying, purposefully keeping his position relaxed.

Micah turned his eyes to him, pale green, they almost looked sickly to john “What's your name boy?” he demanded, and john lifted a brow “rip van winkle” he said automatically. The blonde snarled and walked around the table, Lenny's position no longer relaxed now that Micah apparently had a new target.

It was kind of sweet that the club appeared protective of him “when I ask a question you answer it, boy unless you want another hole to breathe out of” he snarled and john snorted “very original” he drawled “what next, you going to tell me you're going to string me up by my balls or have me sleeping with the fishes”

Another snarl and bills voice cut though it “don’t fuck with him Micah, he’s Arthur's guest” they had been referring to him as Arthur's boyfriend all night, the change of terminology didn’t slip johns notice and it just made him dislike this man more.

John stared at the man, daring him to do something stupid which was apparently about to happen given the tension in the air “guest or not, he needs to learn his fucking place” Micah reached out for him.

Being the odd man out most of his school life john knew how to stay out of a fight just as much as he knew how to pick a fight.

But he also knew how to win a fight.

You didn’t survive in a situation like his if you weren’t a scrapper.

Before Micah's hand could close on his shirt he grabbed the man's wrist twisting out of the way and grabbing the back of his neck at the same time, using his own upward momentum as he got to his feet to slam Micah's face into the top of the picnic table.

Everything was silent for a moment as John stepped away, people staring in shock and a bit of awe at the knowledge that john didn’t need protecting.

But then Micha reared back, blood leaking down his nose and staining his teeth and eyes wild and angry “I’ll fucking kill you!” he promised and lunged for john.

His day just kept getting better and better.

He redirected Micah's blind charge, dodging to the side but Micha spun mid charge, his pointy elbow hitting john in the ribs.

Growling with anger from the pain he lifted his arms, feeling Michas heavy fists come down against them, he would bruise but john already had bruises from both pleasure and pain and this would be a mix of both.

He fucking hated bullies.

Feeling Micah pull back john lowered his guard and ducked a wild swing, slamming his fist into Micah's ribs as he went, hearing the man grunt in pain but the satisfaction at landing a blow was short-lived as Micha tripped him, sending him to the ground.

The blonde was on top of him in a moment and john could barely get his guard up, his arms aching with the weight of the other man's punches.

“Micha get off him!” someone demanded, a few other voices adding to the noise surrounding the fight but John didn’t focus on them, instead he took a deep breath focusing and dropped his guard.

The bastard took the bait and his hands shot down to wrap around John's throat, figured he would want to choke the life out of his adversaries but john didn’t struggle.

He knew he couldn’t peel the man's hands off his throat, it would be pointless as the wiry fucker was surprisingly strong so instead, he clenched his fist and drove it into the man's kidney.

Cocky fucker hadn’t pinned his arms when getting on top of him.

Micha yelped in pain at the second blow, his grip loosening on John's throat enough that john could rip his hands away, instead reaching up and grabbing the side of Micha's head with his fingers curled into greasy strands of hair and he shoved.

Disoriented the blonde fell from his perch and john took up a similar position, the only difference was he knew to pin the blonde's arms and he wasn’t blinded by rage. He clenched his fist, his knuckles aching, and brought it down on the side of Micha's face.

If he wanted to be a bitch he could aim for the jaw hinge, make him had his mouth wired shut for a while, maybe spare the rest of the club but he didn’t want to do any permanent damage to the asshole, just send a message.

So he aimed for the cheek, felt his knuckles pop, and the skin split on the second blow but the weak groan of pain on the third made up for it.

Shoving himself backward john stepped back from the blonde asshole who made no move to get up, gasping from the exertion and the near strangulation and tasting blood in his mouth he looked around at the loose circle the gang had formed around the fight, looking frozen and staring.

At him.

And he suddenly remembered he just beat the fuck out of one of the enforcers of the fucking outlaw's motorcycle gang. Boyfriend of the boss's son or not he was probably about to get his ass beat.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for this chapter.
> 
> small argument, that's it.

“What happens now?” John rasped, voice sounding like gravel and those words broke the silence, and something surprising happened.

They laughed.

A hand struck his spine and his head jerked to the side to face Lenny who was grinning “what happens now is I pour you a drink!”

John blinked in surprise as the man moved passed him “damn” Javier whistled looking down at the unconscious man “remind me not to get on your bad side eh?” john blinked, wondering if he hit his head and his eyes darted towards the door where Hosea and Dutch were standing exchanging looks and Arthur was moving straight towards him.

Blue eyes flicked around, taking in the scene he had to have only caught the very end of before settling on john himself, looking him up and down for injuries under the weak floodlights “what happened to staying out of trouble?” he questioned and John shrugged.

Now that the fight was over and the adrenaline was fading his body was starting to ache, especially his arms and his throat.

His face had already hurt so he could ignore that one, but he reached up to rub his throat “can’t help it found me” he muttered, and the blonde hummed, eyes squinted as he examined johns face before his lips turned up at the corner “well, he probably had it comin”

“he most certainly did” john turned his head and looked at Dutch who was smoking a cigar and looking at Micah with a lifted brow “I am going to trust you didn’t start this?” Dutch turned his head to look at john and even though he was trying to hide it john could see that man was trying to hide his amusement.

John shifted from foot to foot “no, but I finished it” he was watching Dutch closely expecting something to happen though he didn’t know what but when the man snorted and slapped Arthur's shoulder he was surprised.

“I told you I liked this one Arthur, keep him around for a while” the man moved away just as suddenly as he appeared, leaving john confused as he watched the man walk toward Lenny who was pouring himself a drink.

He honestly couldn’t believe that no one was upset about this, not that he was complaining but it just didn’t seem like normal biker behavior, even if they didn’t like the guy.

“shocked?” he turned his head to look back at Arthur who had lifted a brow and nodded “this, doesn’t seem normal,” he said and Arthur snorted “Yeah, well, the outlaws ain't normal” there was something in the way that he said it that made john curious, furrowing his brows at the blonde.

“How was the meeting” he changed the subject when he realized whatever it was the man wouldn’t tell him just then and Arthur chuckled, guiding the younger man toward the house “I’ll tell you about it tonight, how’s your hand?” john flexed his hand and winced, looking down at the torn skin and the blood staining his fingers.

It didn’t even bleed that much “not broken” he said before glancing back at where Micah still laid on the ground with bill standing over him, looking to be waiting on the blonde to wake up so he could yell at him.

John didn’t actually get to see this though as Arthur ushered him inside and upstairs away from the kitchen, but Tilly’s voice still called after them, something about dinner being ready soon, john couldn’t quite hear her.

On the top floor, Arthur opened the last door on the left of a hallway, the room beyond it was rather plain but it showed clear signs of belonging to Arthur.

Photos had been tacked to the wall and a Stetson with a bullet hole in the top, of all things, hung beside them, a neatly made twin bed with a flannel blanket over top pushed against the wall.

A combination of cowboy and biker and smelling of disuse with traces of Arthur’s cologne.

Arthur sat him down on the bed and pulled over a desk chair, sitting down in front of him while pulling a first aid box out from under the bed to open on his knee.

The man took John’s hand in his own, gentle as he dabbed at John’s split skin with an alcohol wipe, testing each finger to make sure John didn’t break a knuckle.

John knew he didn’t, had learned the throw a proper punch at a young age so it would never be a problem but he didn’t say anything as the man went through what had to be a ritual by now, the first aid kit was a little to conveniently placed for it not to be.

Besides he’d seen Arthur’s hands, the rough skin on his knuckles from years of abuse.

He paid attention.

The cleaning and tending didn’t take long and when he was finished the man simply held John’s hand, thumb running over his fingers in a gentle caress “so what’s your verdict” he teased, keeping his voice low and making the blonde glance up, lips quirking slightly before his gaze dropped back down.

“you’ll survive” he said and john snorted “damn, gonna have to try harder then, but at least this keeps people from asking about my limp” the man’s lips quirked again but he didn’t look up and john tightened his fingers around the other man's.

“hey” the man rose his gaze “where’d you go babe?” john questioned and Arthur shook his head “a million miles away” john hummed, watching the man “Wanna tell me about it?” he questioned.

Arthur looked down again, chewing at his lip before speaking “some old associates are causing trouble for some of the gang, following ‘em, we don’t know why” Arthur shifted his hand and squeezed johns fingers “it might be best if you-” Arthur was speaking slowly so it was easy for john to interrupt him.

“I ain’t leaving Arthur” blue eyes locked with his own, the man looked like he wanted to argue “not leave, just, lay low for a while, so it doesn’t look like you're involved with us” john snorted “but I am involved, with you specifically” he poked the blonde's chest but he swatted it away.

Arthur was getting annoyed which was what john was aiming to do, he would say what he was really thinking if he was annoyed “being around us is dangerous right now”

John motioned toward the window “I can obviously handle myself” he said, and Arthur sighed in frustration, shoving the hand not latched onto John's into his hair, messing up the strands.

“there’s a difference between Micah’s bullshit and the people the gang deals with” he tried to reason “and I’m sure I can handle them too, I ain’t a kid Arthur I can defend myself”

Suddenly something cracked in the blonde’s expression as he lifted to his feet to try and intimidate john “god damn it, John, I’m trying to protect you! I can’t see you get hurt, I love you!”

“yeah well I love you to dumb ass” john launched to his feet and shoved his finger into the blonde's chest, getting in his face in return “and you don’t get to push me away by claiming it’s for my own fucking protection!”

Silence fell thick and heavy between them, it was as if everything was holding its breath, and at first, John didn’t know why until he replayed the last few moments in his head and his eyes widened in realization, matching the blondes wide-eyed expression.

Oh. . .

It figured the first time they said those words it would be during an argument.

“John” Arthur strained, fingers clinging to John's own making him frown and move his hand so he could lace their fingers together properly, torn knuckles be damned “everything good in my life has been taken away from me, I mean it Arthur, you don’t get to take yourself away from me to”

Lifting onto his toes he kissed the stunned blonde, freehand cupping the back of his neck “I can take care of myself” Arthur hummed as their foreheads pressed together, his eyes squeezed shut and his grip tight.

They needed to talk about this, they needed to talk about a lot of things but this was neither the time nor the place, as proven by a sudden knock on the closed door “sorry to interrupt this heart to heart” tilly’s voice traveled through the wood.

“But dinner's on the table” Arthur grunted, not moving and the sound of steps fading made john sigh and open his eyes, shifting away just enough to look at the blonde “we’ll talk about this” he said, as if in promise and the blonde nodded, blue eyes opening to peer at him.

He was always a sucker for the man’s puppy expression.

“promise”

This was a promise that wouldn’t be kept as they walked out to the back to join the rest of the crew, excluding micah, for dinner and drink, whisky pouring like it had no end and by the time they returned to Arthur's room for the night, stumbling and barely holding onto each other, the sun was peeking over the horizon.

They collapsed into bed one on top of the other and slept deeply.

~

Arthur stared at johns sleeping form, it had been three days since the party and their subsequent argument, and they still hadn’t talked.

Currently, john was hugging a pillow to his chest in Arthur's bed, snoring faintly and legs tangled in the sheets. He made a pretty picture even with his fading bruises, pale skin glowing in the early morning light, and one hand wrapped in bandages.

Arthur wanted to sketch the scene, to hold it in his memory but he didn’t have time, he was supposed to leave twenty minutes ago but he had been distracted by the young man who wouldn’t even know he left.

He didn’t know if that would be better or worse, all he knew was that he really didn’t want to go, not just because of the pretty picture john made but also because something was churning in his gut.

Something telling him that something was going to happen while he was gone, he knew he was just being paranoid, that the two days he was going to be gone wasn’t going to be long enough for anything too bad to happen.

And besides, as John was very verbal about, he wasn’t a kid and he knew how to protect himself.

Arthur also made sure he knew where the firearm was, holstered on the bottom of the nightstand and always loaded, a precaution that his life required. Sighing quietly and slowly, he leaned a single knee onto the empty space on the bed, leaning over to tuck strands of dark hair behind john’s ear.

John hummed sleepily when Arthur kissed his cheek, eyes twitching but not opening as Arthur pulled away, breathing deeply for a moment, and watching John's peaceful face before slipping away.

Closing the bedroom door quietly he looked down at cooper who was sitting in the hallway, somehow sensing that Arthur was uneasy and waiting for the door to close before trotting up, letting his master dig his fingers into his neck.

“good boy” Arthur drawled, the dog's tongue lolling out and foot thumping on the rug until Arthur ruffled his ears, making the dog look up at him “keep an eye on him, alright boy?” Arthur nodded at the closed door and the dog huffed.

It was a good enough answer for Arthur who ruffled his ears one more time before walking out of the house, locking the door behind himself and sliding onto his bike, not focusing on the worry pinching his gut as he rode away.

It was only going to be two days.

Everything would be just fine.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no tw for this chapter that I know of, please enjoy and let me know if I missed one!

John grunted awake when something jumped on him, panting, and stinking of dirty animal he scowled and squinted at cooper who had jumped into the bed “ugh, you need a bath” he complained.

The dog huffed and shoved his face into johns’ shoulder, nudging him and making john flinch at his wet and cold nose.

The dog wanted something.

Groaning again john gently shoved the animal away and sat up, the dog jumping down and pushed through the slightly gapping door again, widening the door as john stood up, shirtless and pantsless until he grabbed a pair of boxers off the floor to pull on.

Cooper whined as john walked out of the room and he sighed again “alright, alright, keep your tail on” he opened the door and the dog rocketed outside.

John knew Arthur was gone, the blonde had mentioned it the previous night as they laid in bed, trading soft touches and warm kisses, but it annoyed john a little that the man couldn’t have at least let cooper out before going to do his outlaw stuff.

Closing the door john walked into the kitchen and made himself some coffee, waiting for it to finish brewing before making himself a cup and walking out to the porch to sit down on the swing and watch cooper.

Despite being close to six years old the dog was as energetic as a puppy, darting in and out of the trees at the edge of the driveway, randomly stopping to sniff a tree and take a leak on it before he would disappear again, reappearing one last time with a stick in his mouth and then finally laid down below the porch to chew on it.

Shaking his head john looked out at the trees.

He could go into the shop and tinker around for a while, could probably even swing by the house what with the open invitation that had been laid out by Dutch when they left, mostly to annoy Sean but he didn’t know if that guy Micah had gone on that trip or not.

As an enforcer he probably did but he didn’t want to take a chance with it, his knuckles had only just started to heal after all.

John didn’t really know what to do, he hadn’t built his new life around Arthur by any means but there wasn’t much he could actually do aside from go to work and sit on his ass, the errands had been run and the laundry was done.

The dishes, aside from the cup he was using, were also done because it had been Arthur's turn to do them the previous night and while he could go on a grocery run there wasn’t much they were low on.

He could probably look into some of the schools around the area in case he decided to actually go to college, but he didn’t have much of a desire to do that either. Honestly, he just wanted to go lay back in bed and take a nap.

Distracted, he didn’t notice cooper hopping up onto the porch until the dog hopped up into the swing with him, laying himself over john’s lap and shoving his nose into john’s face.

“damn it” he laughed and reached out to rub the dog’s neck, pushing his curious nose away from the coffee cup he held to the side “caffeine ain’t good for dogs” he said.

The dog huffed, tilting his head as john scratched behind his ear “think I figured something out to do today” he said as if the dog could reply, or even cared what he was saying.

He should, it was about him “cooper?” he singsonged and the dog looked up curiously at the mention of his name and why john had stopped petting him “bath time”

The dog lept from the swing and darted into the house, making john laugh as the dog tried to hide.

Silly pup should have gone into the trees if that’s what he wanted, Afterall john couldn’t chase him while only wearing his boxers.

~

Two hours and a bathroom mess later, copper smelled much better and was aggressively chewing on his rope toy in front of the hearth on top of a towel and glaring at john who had gotten ready to go to work.

“don’t give me that look” he said to the beast “I coulda sprayed ya off with the hose” the dog huffed lifting his face from his toy for just a moment to snort before going back to his toy.

Shaking his head john picked up his phone, scrolling through the contacts until he reached Arthur's number and opened a new message.

‘your dog hates me’ he sent it and turned away to make something to eat, not expecting a reply anytime soon until his phone chimed with a new message.

A simple question mark speaking of Arthur's confusion ‘I bathed him’

Nearly immediately after he sent that message Arthur was texting back ‘it was nice knowing you’ john snorted and replied with a betrayed meme followed by a question on where or not Arthur should be working.

‘I am working, just our contact isn’t here yet, so I get to waste time and watch HBO’

John rolled his eyes, taking his breakfast and moving into the Livingroom ‘said like I’m just something to waste time on lol’ he flipped on the tv, turning it onto HBO because whatever was on was obviously entertaining enough to keep Arthur's interest.

It was a western movie.

Figured.

‘never’ his phone chimed with Arthur's message making him roll his eyes ‘it’s a joke, don’t get grumpy’ john grunted when cooper suddenly shoved his way into his lap, seeking attention, or maybe just johns food “you're worse than your master” he said to the dog before picking his phone back up, taking a selfie with the dog to send to Arthur before scarfing down his food and leaving the house.

Just as he suspected there wasn’t any major work to do at the garage and the few people that worked there were more than enough to handle anything that came in so John ended up spending his afternoon tinkering with the truck and texting with Arthur, kind of wishing he had just stayed home.

He hadn’t built his life around the man, but the blonde was a pretty big part of it.

John was allowed to miss him.

~

The second-day john texted Charles to see if he wanted to hang out, he hadn’t seen much of his friend recently, especially since the other man was taking college classes, something to do with animals but John didn’t really understand it.

But it was the weekend, the shop was closed but so was the school so the man couldn’t have anything going on.

Turned out he didn’t and came to the house by the next hour, the crunch of gravel and coopers lazy barking from the porch alerting john to his presence.

“it's open” he called at the man's knock, his friend stepping inside to see john sitting upside down on the couch and watching TV “you have quite the vicious guard dog” the man said calmly, dropping his bag and smacking johns legs to make him sit on the couch correctly.

Grumbling as he moved john looked at the man, seeing his inky black hair had been pulled back from his face with a French braid, looking at him with a calm expression and amber eyes vaguely amused “that ain’t the word I’d use to describe him” he said, looking over at the furry idiot that was rolling around as the man settled down on the floor and stretched out his hella long legs.

John never understood it but his friend always preferred sitting on the floor.

Though this time he suspected it was because he was going to try to lure cooper in to cuddle him, Charles had a soft spot for animals.

Maybe that was how they became friends.

“where’s Arthur?” the man asked as John stood up and walked into the kitchen to get a drink for them both “business trip” john said returning to the couch, handing Charles his soda before flopping down on the cushions “so you're bored” the man said.

John didn’t answer that but the smirk on the other man’s face told him he didn’t have to.

They lapsed into silence for a while, john flipping through channels on the tv, Charles petting cooper behind that ears as the dog had decided to use him as a pillow and scrolling through his phone.

Occasionally he would hold it up to john to show him a meme but aside from that, they didn’t do much.

John and Charles had an easy friendship, they didn’t really talk much when they hung out, what with both of them enjoying the silence, so this wasn’t out of the ordinary for them, especially considering before moving in with Arthur john had spent just as much if not more time sleeping in Charles room than he had his own.

Sometimes, if he thought about it, john wondered if he hadn’t met Arthur, if he and Charles might have had something, it probably wouldn’t have been much of a stretch after all they already loved each other.

Not in a romantic way but in a familial way, john could honestly say that Charles was the closest thing he would probably ever have to a brother.

Sighing john stared at the ceiling “you're thinking too hard again” Charles said, glancing up from his phone and john turned over, looking at the screen over the man’s shoulder to watch as he played some matching game.

“probably” he admitted before seeing a notification pop up on the screen, unable to read what it said before Charles swiped it away but still able to read the name which had him smirking at his friend.

“so” he said, crossing his arms and staring at the side of the man’s head “who’s Abigail?”

The man's eyes glanced at john and he leaned slightly away, even though cooper was still using him as a pillow “she’s in my biology class” he said slowly, wary of john for good reason.

“biology huh?” he smirked “sure ya ain’t got chemistry together as well?” Charles rolled his eyes and looked back at his phone “my degree doesn’t require chemistry”

John sighed melodramatically, making the man smirk, telling john the joke wasn’t lost on the older and he was just trying to be an asshole and succeeding.

Suddenly coopers head shot up, his ears shifting forward and eyes focusing on the door, the movement causing the friends to fall silent just before someone knocked on the door.

Charles and John exchanged a look, both of them confused “were you expecting someone?” john shook his head and stood up “no, and I didn’t hear any bikes” walking over he glanced through the window to see a dark SUV sitting in the driveway behind Charles car and a single man standing on the porch.

He was facing away from the door and looking around, he looked like a salesman but John didn’t trust him, cooper was on edge as well as the dog was slinking towards the door with his hackles raised and ears pinned “ ** _fuss_** ” he said and cooper froze as the command, glancing at john “ ** _bleib_** ” he said and the dog sat down.

He didn’t look happy about it, but he followed johns’ commands as he had been trained to do, allowing John to open the door and stare at the man, Charles creeping up and hidden by the door.

“can I help you?” he questioned making the man turn and smile, john didn’t trust the man’s smile “Mr. Marston I presume?” the man questioned “whose asking?” he replied “my apologies, my name is James Milton, I believe we have a mutual friend that needs discussing”

The man was trying to look harmless but was doing a poor job of it, his eyes were too cold and his smile was too sharp, he also wanted to look like he came alone but john could tell with a glance that at least one other person was in the SUV “I ain’t got no friends, if I did I wouldn’t discuss anything behind their backs”

Milton’s smile became dangerous “I am afraid, I must insist Mr. Marston” he reached out to push the door open and shove his way inside but Charles stepped out from behind the door, large hand grabbing Milton’s bony wrist and shoving it aside.

“I think it's time for you to leave” the man said, his free hand dropping onto johns’ shoulder, probably to keep him from doing something stupid.

The man knew him too well.

“ah, I don’t recognize you” the man's eyes flitted up and down Charles’ tall frame before looking back at john “this doesn’t look like Mr. Morgan” he said john disliking what he was implying “you need to leave”

Cooper growled from his place, itching to move towards the man but following johns’ orders and staying in place.

Seeming to realize that whatever he came for wouldn’t be as easy as he thought the man straightened up and smoothed his suit jacket “another time then I suppose” he turned and walked leisurely off the porch.

John and Charles didn’t move until the man got into the SUV and drove away, only then closing the door and relaxing, john patting his leg so cooper would come closer and reached down to rub his ears.

“who was that?” Charles questioned, looking out the window as john rewarded Cooper's obedience “don’t know” he said then glanced up at his friend “probably someone my parents sent to cause trouble, looked like the government type” he stood up and walked towards the Livingroom.

Charles followed, looking unsure “you sure?” he questioned, and john shrugged “honestly I don’t know” he said before smirking at his friend “but you were telling me something about your girlfriend”

Rolling his eyes Charles moved toward the kitchen “she’s not my girlfriend” he said making john laugh.

Altercation at the door forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the commands john used are german.
> 
> fuss-heel
> 
> bleib-stay
> 
> cooper is a good trained doggo.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: general PSA things are gonna go slightly downhill from here so keep an eye on this area for chapter tags, it will become prominent in the coming chapters.

At around 7 pm johns phone rang making him glance up from the game he was playing and move to answer it, Charles rolling his eyes and taking the controller from him “I love you; I’m going to be late”

Warmth flooded John's chest, they still hadn’t talked about it but having said the words once it was easy to say them again “I love you too, how late?” he replied, walking into the kitchen and pouring a cup of coffee.

“probably tomorrow afternoon, if we can get back by then. The original deal fell through, buyer never showed up, so we had to make a last-minute run another county over, we made less but its no longer our problem” john hummed sipping his coffee.

“Is everything alright there?” the man asked, and john tilted his head “why do you ask?” he questioned and heard a rustling sound like Arthur shook his head “just a feeling I got”

John snorted quietly “everything’s fine” he said before glancing to the side “had some guy knock earlier, forgot his name but he looked like a carpet salesman” john hopped u to sit on the counter hearing the other man hum in curiosity.

“guy had a real creepy vibe about him” silence met these words for a moment before Arthur spoke again “want me to come back tonight?” his voice had lowered, got a bit of a growl to it like he was worried and trying to hide it.

Waving a hand john pinched the phone between his ear and his shoulder to pick up his coffee “relax babe, it was probably my parents stirring up shit, besides Charles is staying the night just in case”

He heard Arthur hum as he took a sip of coffee “I’m glad he’s there, I like Charles” he sounded calmer “you’ve hardly met him” john rolled his eyes with a shake of his head, grabbing his phone again.

“you trust him, so I trust him” john rolled his eyes “yeah, the two of you would get along alright” john got off the counter walking back toward the Livingroom “when are you going to get here tomorrow?”

“depends on the traffic, won't be later than 12” john hummed, putting down his cup to flop onto the couch “I’ll make breakfast” he said and heard a soft laugh from the other end of the phone, Charles glancing back and rolling his eyes as johns smile “promise like that, I’ll be home sooner”

John snorted “just be careful,” he said, and the other man hummed over the line “I will, I love you” he said, and John's smile softened a bit.

“love you to Arthur”

After he got off the phone he sighed and glanced down at Charles who was looking at him with a smirk and a lifted brow “shut up” he said even though the man didn’t say anything and shoved at his friend when he started chuckling.

~

Charles left early the next morning, claiming to need to help a classmate study for an upcoming test, john bidding farewell to his friend by telling him to say hello to his girlfriend for him.

After he left john looked around, it was 8 am and Arthur would be home in a couple of hours, might give him just enough time to let cooper run off his energy and shower before starting on breakfast.

He let cooper out and stepped under the warm spray, washing off the smell of sweat and dog as cooper had slept in the bed the previous night.

Getting out he walked in only a towel to the bedroom, pulling on some shorts and a shirt and toweling his hair until it was only damp before throwing the towel onto the bed, gathering the dog smelling sheets into a pile, and carrying them to the laundry room.

He got the load started and remade the bed before walking to the door and whistling for cooper, the dog trotting back in with his tail in the air like a doofus “you're so weird” he said before closing the door.

Turning to the kitchen he plugged his headphones into his phone and selected his YouTube playlist, humming along as he started making breakfast, dancing around the kitchen as he cooked.

It was 10:30 when he poured the omelet mix into the pan, bacon hissing in a separate pan and making it smell amazing.

It smelled like home.

Still humming and with his ears plugged he didn’t quite hear the commotion until something hit his head, the room going pitch black as his vision failed him.

~

Arthur looked around as he drove back into town, second in their formation behind Pearson and beside Micah, usually the roar of a group of bikes was comforting to him but this time it wasn’t, his guts twisting as they had been ever since they got on the road that morning.

He wasn’t expected to follow them to the house, he didn’t actually have his spot back after all and he was really only along for extra muscle, to look scary as john had said and as such when they came to a four-way stop he rolled up beside Pearson, giving the man a nod before going left while the rest of them went right.

Something still didn’t feel right, he told himself it was the beer from the previous night or maybe the gas station pizza he’d had for dinner.

Tried to tell himself he was just hungry, but he knew what hunger felt like and this wasn’t even close, the feeling was too sharp and too high, tickling the bottom of his lungs.

Shaking his head, he rolled up his drive, looking around cautiously but finding nothing out of the ordinary, his truck was parked off to the side and the doors were closed.

He was just being paranoid.

Shutting off his bike he got off and took off his glasses, checking his phone as he walked up onto the porch and finding that it was just past 11. He was early enough john might still be sleeping, or maybe he was cooking.

Arthur hoped he was cooking, again he’d only had cheap pizza for the last two days. Finding the door unlocked he walked into the house “john?” he called but was only answered by silence.

Brow furrowing he looked around and caught something acidic in his nose “ya said you’d make breakfast not burn it, sweetheart, you get distracted or. . .” he fell silent as he stepped forward and found cooper laying on the floor.

The hallway wasn’t his usual lounging spot.

He was bleeding.

“fuck” Arthur rushed to the kitchen to see a mess, the stove had been turned off but the bacon in a skillet had still burned, gummy egg residue splashed over the counter and the floor.

Blood dripped on the edge of the counter and no john.

He rushed through the house, finding each room in a mild state of disarray before coming back into the hallway and kneeling by cooper, fearing the worst but mildly relieved when the dog whined and licked his hand.

Cooper was alive but had been shot with a tranquilizer and the skin on his head was bloody like someone had punched him.

Stroking the woozy dog who was still whining he picked up his phone and selected his emergency contact, staring at the kitchen doorway in shock as it rang.

“Arthur! I didn’t expect you to call so soon” Dutch greeted with a cheerful voice “pa” he rasped, and the man’s tone immediately shifted “Arthur?” he was worried “what’s wrong son?”

Arthur swallowed “something happened. John. He’s gone”

“don’t move” Hosea's voice was suddenly on the line “we’ll be right there”

The line went silent and Arthur numbly sat on the floor, cooper whining and dragging himself up into his lap but Arthur hardly noticed it. John was gone, someone had come into his home, a place he was supposed to be safe, and taken him.

And it was his fault.

When the door opened Arthur lifted his hand, handgun aimed at the people standing there until he recognized them as Dutch and Hosea “easy son” Hosea soothed, his voice making Arthur drop the weapon and lean his head back against the wall again.

“is he” Dutch trailed off as cooper thumped his tail “sedated, beaten” Arthur hardly registered himself speaking before motioning towards the kitchen “grabbed him while he was making breakfast”

Dutch walked into the kitchen, disappearing from view especially when Hosea crouched in front of him “Arthur” the voice so close made him focus on the grey-haired man “it’s going to be alright” he soothed, hand falling heavy on Arthur's shoulder.

“we will find him”

Arthur could only nod and shut his stinging eyes.

Unsure of exactly how they would find him.

And in what condition.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: beating as a form of interrogation.
> 
> that's it for this chapter and I am sorry in advance.

John's head hurt, a throbbing pain behind his eyes that made his guts churn and his mouth go dry. Swallowing he squinted his eyes open to look around, finding himself sitting in a room with bare walls and a concrete floor.

The fluorescent lights above his head made his head hurt worse and when he tried to reach up to shade his eyes he found that he couldn’t move them, his hands tied together behind the back of his chair.

Eyes widening, he turned his head trying to see exactly what kept him tied down, it didn’t feel like rope, but he couldn’t quite tell.

A door opened and his headshot forward again, eyes landing on a man with a mustache and thinning hair who seemed glad at johns wakefulness. Another man was trailing behind him and that one john recognized.

It was that guy from the previous day, Marton or something “I do believe it's time we had that discussion Mr. Marston” he said and john curled his lip even as fear pulled at his mind.

Who the fuck wouldn’t be scared in a situation like this.

“I ain't got shit ta say to you” he said before his head jerked to the side, pain blooming as the first man punched him in the face “you’ll have to forgive my associate, Mr ross doesn’t like disobedience, or liars, now” the man grabbed a chair and sat a small distance in front of john.

The man's eyes were so cold, they unnerved john “what do you know about our mutual friend, Dutch van der Linde?”

That’s what they wanted to know about? John pushed his tongue against his teeth, checking to see if any had been knocked loose while glancing between the men “I don’t” he answered only to be backhanded.

“We have evidence to disprove that, Mr Marston, witness reports of you mingling with Mr van der Linde and the other outlaws within the last week along with your association with Mr morgan, a well-known member of the gang”

John spat on the floor at the man spoke, vision swimming slightly “I don’t know shit” he hissed, baring his teeth at the man “and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you shit” the man sighed and shared a glance with ross.

“then I’m afraid this is about to get very unpleasant for you Mr. Marston”

Ross who had been standing to the side as if waiting for an order lunged forward, John's snarky comment being cut off with a choked yelp as he planted his fist in John's belly making him cough and gasp as the blows kept coming.

It figured these guys would be the type to beat their victims.

John didn’t like being one of them.

~

Javier took cooper to the vet to get checked out and Arthur, his shock having been replaced by anger, paced around the meeting room at the house, Pearson, Swanson, and Susan watching him closely while the other members of the table discussed who could have grabbed john.

“Are we sure someone took him?” Strauss questioned, scowling at the other members of the table “were sure” Arthur growled at the skinny man, glaring until he held up his hands.

Dutch followed Arthur's pacing with his eyes “think it might have been the o'driscolls?” the new kid Lenny questioned, having been followed by one of them himself it wasn’t out of the question.

“It was too clean, Colm doesn’t have a habit of leaving anything alive” Arthur grunted in agreement with Hosea before finally sitting down, at least a little of his nervous energy burned off “was also too organized, fuckers knew he was going to be alone”

Pearsons brows furrowed “don’t know how. Your not usually on our detail since you retired Arthur, no one should have known about the run except for us” Arthur drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair as that statement brought up a whole new topic of conversation about just how someone could have known about private club business.

As they talked Arthur's mind started to race again, thinking about how pointless this meeting was, that they were wasting time and needed to be out looking for john.

Never mind that he had no idea where to start only that by this time John had been missing for at least three hours which was more than enough time for assholes to do unpleasant things he didn’t want to think about.

He was pulled out of his head by Javier suddenly sticking his head into the room, silencing what might have been an argument “Arthur?” he looked at the man and lifted a brow noticing the odd look on the Spanish man's face.

“there's someone here asking for you” brow scrunching in confusion he stood from his chair and left the room without a word, closing the door behind himself and looking at Javier “cooper?” he asked

His friend smiled slightly “the pups alright brother, the vet’s keeping him overnight then he can come home” Arthur nodded then walked toward the front room finding the odd man out immediately.

Mostly because he was a full head and a half taller than Javier who pointed at him before disappearing out the front door “Charles right?” Arthur questioned as the man looked at him.

“that’s right” he said calmly sipping from a cup of coffee that tilly must have given him “this isn’t how I imagined our first official meeting going” he said and Arthur lifted a shoulder “this ain’t how I expected this day goin’, not to be blunt but what do you want?”

The man didn’t look offended, simply put down his coffee and faced Arthur fully “something happened to john didn’t it?” Arthur narrowed his eyes “how do you know that?”

His voice was a snarl but the other man remained calm “I’ve known John for years, it's easy enough to know he’s a magnet for trouble, besides I looked up the visitor he had last night”

Arthur hummed, remembering the conversation from the previous day “some detective his parents hired, the reason you stayed over” the man shook his head, braid falling over his shoulder “he wasn’t a detective”

The man reached back and pulled a folded piece of paper from his back pocket, handing it over to him “not a reputable one and I doubt his parents have anything to do with it” Arthur opened the paper as the man spoke and looked at the name on it, printed out from a criminal database.

James Milton, it said and the name alone made Arthur's hands clench.

He knew Milton, anyone who had ever pissed off the Pinkertons knew Milton, he was their leading enforcer and top bastard. Turning his eyes back to Charles he scowled at the man’s calm expression “these ain't the type of bastard ya can just point fingers at, ya sure about this?”

“given that the same SUV that was in your driveway yesterday was waiting when I left this morning, I’d say I’m pretty damn sure, if I wasn’t I wouldn’t have come here with them trailing me”

Arthur's head jerked up “what the fuck would Pinkertons want with you?” the man lifted a brow “what would they want with john?”

It was a good question and unfortunately one he had an answer for.

It really fucking was his fault.

“let’s go ask them”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: torture.  
> graphic violence.  
> Arthur acting real low honor

John was woozy, his head hurt and his nose was most likely broken and his body ached but he was still alive, a fact that surprised him and told him that whoever the fuck these guys were they needed something from him.

Something they couldn’t get with him dead.

It was a cold comfort but a comfort none the less “that’s enough Mr ross”

The man backed away from John like an obedient attack dog, standing to the side and staring at him like that alone would make him talk when he had nothing to say “I have to say, Mr. Marston, I’m impressed, I must say if I thought you would have this loyalty for us I might just offer you a job”

John squinted his eyes open to glare at the other fucker, martin or Macready or whatever the fuck his name was.

He was looking at John with a cold and detached amusement “ya got a dental plan?” he rasped and the man chuckled “no, but I do need answers, honestly just tell us what you know and all of this will stop” the man rotated his hand to encompass the room.

“we’ll even compensate you for your inconvenience” John shook his head and laughed, strands of hair sticking to the blood on his face “I don’t know what it’ll take to get this through your thick skull, but I really don’t know shit”

He lunged forward, restraints cutting into his wrists as he bared his teeth at the man “and if I did I wouldn’t tell you slimy son’s a bitches a god damned thing!” the man shifted his jaw nodding slightly as he turned his head before lunging forward.

One hand shoved John back in the seat and the other dropped down, making red hot pain erupt in his leg “Jesus fuck!” he screamed and looked down at the knife the man had shoved into his thigh.

A hand on his face lifted his eyes back to the man “I am losing my patience with you Mr. Marston” the man said from between his teeth “but if you really don’t know anything maybe we should ask that friend you had over last night” John’s whole body flinched as the man yanked out the knife and held it up.

The blade gleamed red and John’s eyes followed it as it laid against his cheek “after all we’ve already been following him” John tried to curl his lip but the man's grip on his jaw prevented it, making his words slurred “like ta see ya try”

The man's face twitched, the calm mask cracking to show his displeasure and anger “you will see” the tip of the knife dug into John’s cheek making his eyes squeeze shut as a sound of pain left his throat “you’ll see us chop his fucking head off if you don’t answer the god damn question!”

The blade left its trail of fire on John’s face the man's hand leaving John’s jaw and he leaned forward, gasping and staring at the ground, staring at the blood that was gathering below his right foot, trailing down from his leg, dripping from his face.

“the outlaws are savages, there's no place for them in this world and I will ensure they all die savagely, tell me what I want to know and maybe I’ll spare you and your fuck toys lives!” John nodded his head “alright”

The man hummed happily, believing he had won “now we're getting somewhere, so, tell me everything you know about Dutch van der Linde and the outlaws” John swallowed and lifted his head, looking at the man that was still hovering over him.

He licked his lips, inhaled through his broken nose, and then spat directly in the man's face.

“and you can quote me on that!” he screamed as the man reared back wiping the bloody phlegm from his face “when they get here your all going to fucking die! If I was smart I’d start pissing myself now!”

The man leered at John, hand clenching on his bloody knife “it’s too bad your not intelligent Mr. Marston” he said before lunging again and digging his blade into John’s face again, drawing agony up his cheek “your useless to me” the man hissed before shoving away letting John sag forward.

“do what you want with him Mr. Ross” the man said while straightening his shirt and tie “just make sure to leave him here as a message when his ‘friends’ finally show up”

John closed his eyes, breath shuttering and losing himself to the pain.

~

Arthur followed Charles out of the house, not telling anyone where he was going but more than finished with waiting around for them to argue while John was in Milton's clutches.

Anger was a solid thing in his chest, slowing his heart, steadying his hands, and deepening his voice as he told Charles to drive to the local storage lot a couple of miles from the house.

He waited for the man to leave and watched the road for the black SUV he had described to pass the gate before pulling out onto the road trusting the tail to be too distracted following the bait to notice him.

The trip was a short one, just a few minutes but to Arthur it felt like hours, waiting as Charles opened the storage lot with the code Arthur had given him, waiting for the SUV to follow him into the rows of storage units before pulling forward, chaining the gate closed behind him and parking his bike before walking forward on foot.

Charles had stopped halfway between two lines of storage units and the SUV had followed him and was just being put into park when Arthur appeared at the driver side window.

His appearance along with the shattering of the window when the side of his hand slammed into it stunned the driver and passenger, the men yelping as the glass flew inside and embedded into the driver's face.

Reaching in Arthur grabbed the driver's shirt and yanked him out, the remains of the window scraping his arm a little as he yanked the adult from his seat.

The passenger seeming to suddenly remember he could move reached for something but stopped when his door was yanked open and Charles yanked him out of the vehicle.

Arthur trusted the man to handle himself instead kneeling over the driver's body and slamming his hand into his face the man's nose shattering on the first blow and his jaw fracturing on the second.

He didn’t stop until the man stopped moving, his knuckles bleeding and that anger roaring inside of him.

Standing up he lifted the man by his throat dragging him in front of the car and throwing him to the ground by where Charles had the passenger pinned the man's lip bleeding and face pale as he looked at his friend.

“ya know what happens now?” Arthur drawled reaching back for a cigarette and placing it to his lips lighting it with a match as the man struggled in Charles grip “yeah you try to make me talk in exchange for my friend's life”

Arthur lifted a brow reached back pulled the gun from his jeans and fired a single bullet into the driver's head, spraying grey matter across the gravel “I ain't in a bargaining mood” Arthur snarled as both men staired at him, one in horror and the other in mild shock.

“What happens now is ya tell me where John is or ya die slow” the passenger's eyes darted between him and his buddy, the stain on his pants proving his fear before he shook his head “I don’t know anything! I swear!”

Sighing Arthur walked forward and laid a heavy hand on the passenger's shoulder, Charles stepping to the side “then your just no use to me” Arthur shoved his gun against the man's belly the hot muzzle burning his skin.

“wait-” the man's cry was cut off by the firing of the gun, once, twice.

Charles watched as five bullets sank into the passenger’s abdomen leaving him to fall to the gravel and writhe in pain and Arthur holstered his gun “what now?” Charles asked looking at Arthur who lifted his cigarette to take another drag “that was our only lead”

Glancing at the man Arthur tilted his head at the SUV “they got a GPS, you said this was the same car right?” Charles lifted a brow at Arthurs tone “yeah, what are you going to do about your mess” he waved a hand with a general air of disapproval toward the cooling bodies.

“call a clean up” he replied before turning away.

he didn't care what the other man thought of his methods, just like he didn't care what he had to do to get john back, safe at his side.

He wouldn’t let this happen again.

Not to John.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: strangulation.  
> torture.  
> hinted threat of rape.  
> I think that's it.
> 
> anyway have this thing that I'm tired of looking at and enjoy =D kind of a short update but the next one will make up for it which I will post in the next day or two.

“Found a lead” Arthur spoke into the phone the moment it connected leaning against the front of Charles's car “I was wondering where you went” Dutch’s voice was calm much like Arthur's own.

“I got tired of waiting around” he heard the older man hum over the line “what did you find?” he questioned “the SUV they transported him with, it was following someone else. Driver and passenger were useless but its got a GPS unit”

Arthur glanced back at the bodies behind the car, also bringing Charles into view as he leaned against the storage lockers “made a bit of a mess but also found out who it was that took him” he looked forward again

“you don’t sound happy about it” Hosea said, telling Arthur that Dutch had put him on speaker “it was the Pinkertons” he heard a hushed curse from the other end of the line, followed by soft murmuring “did you get an address?” Dutch silenced all of them.

Arthur hummed “811 blackwater road, looked it up only thing out there is an industrial warehouse”

“sounds like a good place for a trap, how much you trust this lead of yours?” bill questioned “enough to follow it” he said and silence reigned for a moment before Dutch was speaking again “then follow it, I’ll send someone to clean up the mess”

With that permission Arthur hung up the phone and faced Charles who lifted a brow at him “you're taking this shit well” he said and the man lifted a shoulder “I know its for a reason” he said simply

Arthur perked a brow at the slightly taller man “and what reason is that? What steak do you even have in this shit?” the dark-skinned man’s eyes hardened, Arthur knew he could trust this man but that dark feeling inside his chest had him on edge.

“I've been friends with John Marston since middle school, he is my brother and he needs help” there was a rage in Charles that he just now noticed as the man pushed off the wall he was leaning against and approached “is that reason good enough for you?”

Arthur stared at the man then shrugged his shoulder and turned away “it's good enough” he said.

Charles was still looking at him, expressionless and eyes flicking across his face and his posture, seeing things Arthur couldn’t hide. He knew he was being assessed just the same as he knew he would be found lacking.

A sudden hand on his shoulder made him freeze “we will find him” Charles words had gone soft and Arthur stared at him before sniffing and turning away “you ain't gonna find shit, I’m going to get him alone”

“into a trap?” the man asked, eyes showing how shocked he was “this ain't gonna be a talking situation” he said, vaguely annoyed at the man who was now following him as he walked toward the SUV.

He started to open the door but Charles held his hand against it to stop him “I know what kind of situation it's going to be” Arthur turned his head “you sure? Cause I don’t plan on going in there quietly, people will be trying to kill us, this shit ain't like the movies”

“I have good aim” they stared at each other for a minute then two and then finally Arthur sighed “I’m going for John” he said and fully faced the man “if you slow me down I’m leaving you behind, get in the car” he stepped away from the door and the man opened it, brushing shards of glass off the seat before sitting down.

The man looked at him “what's the plan?” he questioned “follow the GPS, go in, and don’t get killed” Arthur turned away “don’t worry about your car, the boys will pick it up” he shouted over his shoulder before walking to his bike and sitting down.

He had a location and his hands itched with the craving for violence, the craving to hurt those that had taken John from him.

Things were about to get bloody.

~

John could hardly walk with the wound in his leg and the pain that was radiating through his body, ross or whatever his name was, was pushing him down a hallway toward a room.

His arms were still tied and his balance was shit, he was being dragged more than carried but he didn’t care, he was just so tired.

The door opened and ross threw him inside, his body hitting the floor with a thud before he was being pulled up by his hair “if I had the time I’d sample your ass myself” the man said.

His face held a sick smile and his eyes were gleaming in a way that would have worried John if he weren’t in so much pain.

“find out just what got morgan so addicted” John curled his lip at the man “fuck off” he hissed and ross snorted “I’d be scared if you weren’t bleeding out” he let go of John’s hair and he collapsed back to the floor.

Being left alone for a minute his world narrowed down to sharp pain that was slowly becoming more and more numb. That and the slowly growing cold of his body couldn’t be good.

Not that any of this was good.

He heard something suddenly, it was distant but loud enough to echo.

It took him longer than he thought it should to realize it was gunshots but no sooner than he’d recognized them was ross yanking his head up again, something tightening around his throat, suffocating and he was being lifted.

He kicked out weakly as he was lifted into the air mouth open to try and grasp a breath that wouldn’t come, the shit around his throat too tight and his vision spotting already

His struggles began to weaken as his heart thundered in his chest, hands struggling with his bonds, struggling to grab whatever was around his throat to just take a single fucking breath.

His wide eyes saw the door burst open moments before blackness took him, horrified blue eyes looking at him and a gunshot echoing through the still air.

It was ironic that Arthur would show up just in time to see him die.

That thought followed him as he fell into blackness.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: injury.  
> hanging (continued)  
> disembowelment.  
> death.  
> basically john wick.

Looking at the building in front of them Arthur knew he should have a plan aside from shooting everyone standing in his way but the longer he looked at the warehouse the worse his hands itched.

The only thing that kept him from charging in immediately was the man standing beside him, John would never forgive him if he got his best friend hurt or killed but still there was only so much he could make himself care with how close John was.

“what’s the plan?” Charles asked after they watched the lone guard at the gate yawn for the third time “don’t get killed” he glanced over at the taller man “I ain't gonna protect you in there”

Charles gave him an unimpressed look “I don’t need protecting” Arthur hummed then looked forward again “let's go” he snarled and jogged over to the wall, following it to the gate and waiting for a moment for the man to look away before rushing forward.

The knife in his hand sank cleanly into the guard's throat, severing his vocal cords and coating Arthur's hand in blood.

He dropped the man, leaving him where he landed before glancing at the building “you know how to use that gun?” he asked without looking at Charles, hearing more than seeing the man remove the firearm from the guard's holster.

“I know the basics” his dull voice held a touch of sarcasm “then use it” Arthur felt himself snarling before stepping from behind the gate and walking straight for the building.

Two men stood by the entrance, relaxed and off guard one fell easily to his knife across their throat, arterial blood spraying on the face of the second who reached for his gun but didn’t have a chance to grab it before Charles took a shot.

The man’s brains stained the wall and Arthur hardly glanced at the man before turning to the door, pulling his gun from the back of his pants and lifting a leg, the door flying open when his boot collided with it.

When Arthur was the head enforced for the outlaws, he did terrible things, things that still haunted him to that very day but it always happened the same way, a coldness would seep into his body, fury, and rage guiding his every action.

He didn’t feel bad about killing, not anymore.

Not when these bastards had stolen John from him, possibly forever, worry and anxiety gnawed at his guts but the cold anger coursing through his blood won out.

A hallway stretched out in front of him, pale grey with drywall and overhead lights, he paid it little attention just as he paid little attention to the presence of Charles behind him, only glancing back when the hall split in two different directions, jerking his head for Charles to take the forward path he turned right down the hallway.

The large building was oddly quiet excluding the sound of his steps, the distant sound of a scuffle as Charles found himself in a fight but Arthur didn’t think about that, focusing only on finding John.

Something suddenly grabbed him around the throat, trying to put him in a sleeper hold and yanking him backward but he just drove his elbow back, feeling something crunch and hearing a cry of pain.

Which was quickly cut short by another gunshot, the assailant falling dead and the spray of his blood temporarily blinding the man behind him before he fell dead.

A door opened further down the hall and Arthur ran for it, slamming his shoulder into it and hearing something crack in the man's arm that was sticking out.

Yanking it open he slammed the man's head against the doorway, hearing another crunch before gunshots came from the room, making him duck to the side.

Glancing down he ejected his magazine, checking his ammunition before sliding it back in and aiming around the door jam waiting for a head to poke up over a table before firing and then rushing into the room.

He tackled the third man to the ground, heard him spitting curses before a breathy sound left his throat when Arthur shoved his knife into his lung, yanking the blade out and opening the man's belly in the same move.

Standing up he cleared the room, finding nothing but a bunch of half-open crates before leaving it, glancing up and down the hallway before moving to the next room.

He stepped inside, hearing more gunshots from the building but everything narrowed down when he saw the chair’s in the room and the blood and the torn fabric that used to be one of John’s favorite shirts to steal from him.

Arthur's breath left his body as he stared at the scene, hands shaking and memories of another situation, much like this one flashing behind his eyes until the anger set in again.

Every warm feeling he had ever felt suddenly locked away and the darkness he usually didn’t give into taking over his mind.

This time he let it, stepping out of the room and marching for the final one at the end of the hall before it turned left again.

Blinded by anger he didn’t see the man sneaking up on him until something hit him in the head, stunning him long enough for the man to make him drop his gun and bring him to the floor.

Curling his lip with a snarl he shoved the man off, reversing their positions and drawing his arm back, putting all of his strength into a punch where he felt something snap, he was vaguely curious if it was something in his own hand before he noticed the way the man's jaw sat.

Adjusting his hand he hit him again and again, he didn’t stop until the man stopped moving, panting from exertion until something pressed against his head and he froze, knowing the feeling of a gun.

It wasn’t the first time he was in a position like this.

“you son of a bitch” the person snarled and Arthur expected to die, to feel the bullet drill into his skull and rattle around before destroying his face on the way out.

He expected to die but the gunshot that rang out didn’t come from behind him rather to his left.

Gun falling away from his head he jerked and looked at Charles who stood there calmly, gun raised and hair a little less well kept, he was bloody but uninjured and his eyes scanned Arthur's face before turning away.

“This has to be their processing plant, a lot of merchandise back there” he nodded at the door he had apparently come out of a bit further down the hall “it's their fucking interrogation site” Arthur shoved to his feet, grabbing his gun from the floor as he went.

Checking his ammo he found he only had two bullets left and so put his gun back, picking up the one that had almost killed him instead and finding it fully loaded.

Fucker couldn’t get a shot off.

Arthur was impressed in the small part of himself not running off of rage. A door slamming had them moving again, approaching the sound down the final hallway and glancing at Charles, reaching for the handle and taking a breath before throwing it open and freezing.

John hung from the ceiling by his throat, a rope was thrown over one of the ceiling beams, and his face blanched of color, twitching weakly and blood dripping from his body, staining the concrete floor.

His eyes focused on Arthur, just for a moment before they lost focus and panic overwhelmed him, he didn’t even feel himself lifting his gun, didn’t consciously think to fire a shot but it worked.

John hit the ground with a heavy thud and Arthur rushed forward, pulling him up and yanking the rope from around his neck “John? John” his throat was bloody and already bruising and deep marks covered his face.

Blood slicked Arthur's palms when he cupped the younger man's face “John? Come on baby, don’t do this to me, wake up” the darkness in his mind was receding and being replaced by grief.

His eyes stung with it, with a truth he couldn’t quite accept, that he might very well be too late.

“please” he begged not caring that Charles stood beside him, not caring about anything as his throat closed in grief, pushing his fingers through John’s hair to push it off of his damaged face “come on, come on”

The brunette gasped, a ragged sound and he watched as his eyes twitched but didn’t open.

“John” he breathed, relief that the young man was alive overwhelming him for a moment as he pulled him close, reaching back with his knife to cut the ropes off of his wrists, carelessly dropping the blade before pulling one of the younger's arms around.

His wrist was rubbed raw, bloody, and bleeding and it made his heart hurt, he felt John mumble, hoarsely against his shoulder before hacking raggedly and he hushed the young man.

“it’s alright, your alright baby, I'm getting you out of here”

Just as Arthur adjusted his arms, about to pick the younger up and cradle him close, a gunshot rang out and Charles fell to the ground.

~

Charles laid on the ground, cursing and holding his bleeding arm, and Arthur's head spun around staring at the man standing in the doorway “I'm afraid you're not going anywhere” the man said.

Arthur, unfortunately, recognized him as one of the Pinkertons grunts, Edwin ross, a sick fucker who enjoyed what he did to people a little too much “Arthur morgan” the man said as he stepped into the room, holding a shotgun in his hands and aiming at Arthur's head.

“the outlaws own grim fucking reaper, I got to say you held up to the name” he nodded at the hallway and the bodies Arthur had left in his wake “we honestly didn’t expect you to show up so soon”

Arthur curled his lip, adjusting John in his arms to better cover him with his own body, he didn’t give a shit what happened to him but they had already hurt John enough, evident by the younger man's whine of pain as his body twitched.

“The fuck did you do to him” Arthur snarled and ross lifted a shoulder “asked him a few questions, I’ll give you this morgan, your bitches are loyal, even when Milton lost his patience the little fuck wouldn’t talk”

Ross grinned savagely at them as Arthur felt John move, possibly curling away from whatever pain racked his body and a hand grabbed his shirt.

“what do you want” he hissed and ross chuckled “I’d tell you but I’d have to kill you, well sooner than I intend to anyway” he was laughing and Arthur just barely heard John mutter something, turning his face forward to look at the damaged young man.

Brown eyes had darkened to the color of mud and they couldn’t quite focus, John’s brow furrowed with pain and concentration as he spoke again, just a bit louder for him to hear “tilt your head”

Arthur automatically tilted his head to the side and then John was moving and something exploded over his shoulder.

His ears ringing Arthur turned his head to see his gun sitting firmly in John’s hand, aimed steadily at where ross was standing.

Where Ross had been standing at least, now he laid with half his head missing.

John had killed him.

“he talked too much” the brunet rasped before his grip loosened, the gun falling from his hand and Arthur was barely able to catch him as he sagged to the side “John? John!”

He had fallen back into uncautiousness.

Scooping the man up he turned his head to look at Charles who was back on his feet, hand clenched over his arm and blood seeping from between his fingers “we need to get to a hospital” he said and the taller man nodded, glancing around before picking up Arthur's gun.

“what about this place?” Arthur curled a lip “let it fucking burn for all I care” and he watched vaguely confused as the man suddenly smirked “that can be arranged”

Arthur turned away and simply walked out of the room, leaving the man to do whatever he planned.

As he drove toward the hospital, Charles sitting in the back of the pilfered SUV with John trying to stop the bleeding of his leg wound, he saw something explode in the rearview mirror, and through the panic and the worry for John, he was mildly impressed.

Charles was surprisingly capable.

Of course, this thought was shoved aside when he saw the man frown and put his fingers against John’s mouth, pausing for a moment before he abandoned the young man's leg and bent over, kissing him.

Arthur was confused until he sat up and folded his hands on John’s chest and it clicked into place with chilling certainty, he wasn’t kissing John.

He was trying to make the young man start breathing again.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: disassociation of a sort.  
> Arthur going through some pretty emotional stuff.  
> I think that's it, as always let me know if I'm missing something.

Hospital chairs were uncomfortable but sitting was better than pacing, Arthur made the nurses nervous with his pacing, in the past they had described him as a rabid dog, pacing back and forth in front of his cage, just waiting for someone to open the door.

He didn’t feel like a rabid dog at the moment, he felt helpless and useless, hands clenched together to stop their shaking and thumb pressing into his forehead, lips pursed. Charles was sitting next to him, a much friendlier face even with his arm bandaged and resting in a sling, the blood on his pale shirt mostly hidden by his mane of dark hair.

Arthur didn’t have that luxury, his jeans were stiff with blood and it flaked off of his knuckles when he moved his hands, a few drops of it drying on his face and very little of it his own.

His black shirt clung to his belly from John’s blood.

“Jesus fuck” he whispered and lowered his hands to in front of his pursed lips, eyes staring at the tan wall and empty row of shitty blue seats, a shitty painting of a flower hanging crookedly.

The clock ticking away slowly on the wall told him it was nearly 7 pm and that he had been sitting there for nearly an hour and a half.

Steps approached from his left, just quiet enough to not belong to a doctor but loud enough to alert Arthur of the approach, he didn’t bother looking up, not even when the owner of the steps sat down beside him.

A hand laid heavily on his back, a touch that had always calmed him and he closed his eyes “I’m sorry we couldn’t be here sooner” Dutch Van Der Linde said softly and Arthur just swallowed roughly, jerking his head once before looking back at the wall.

The painting had other flowers in it aside from the big blue one, small splotches of pink and yellow that were supposed to make it look better but it just made it look messy.

“Who are you?” Dutch asked over Arthur's back, looking at Charles with a suspicious eye “Charles Smith, a friend”

Dutch hummed, suspicious by nature but turned his attention back to Arthur, rubbing his hand up and down the younger man’s spine like he used to do when Arthur was a teenager, screaming himself awake from nightmares he didn’t want to think about and then again when he was barely into his adulthood and dreamed about a room too much like this one.

The painting was different though, the paint was smooth in that one, a painting of a lighthouse, the flower painting was rough, brush strokes raised and clearly visible.

Dutch was never one for talking, comforting words weren’t his forte but touch, he always touched Arthur when he felt the blonde was getting lost, anchoring him to reality and the present even when he desperately wanted to just drift away and stop fucking thinking.

“Hosea?” he felt himself ask in a harsh whisper, swallowing past the lump in his throat “talking to the nurse, he’ll be here in a moment then you can both step out for a smoke” the thought of leaving the hospital made his hands sweat but the thought that Dutch would be there, watching with those sharp eyes of his was enough to comfort him.

Charles was also there, he didn’t know the man well but he was sure he would die before letting anything happen to his best friend.

Someone had scraped the paint in the corner of the painting, a sickly yellow flower missing and discolored canvas showing through.

Why did they even have a shitty painting in a hospital waiting room anyway, Arthur’s brow furrowed, was it supposed to make people feel better? It was a fucking hospital, people only came to places like this on the worst days of their lives, they didn’t care what shitty knock-off painting was on the walls.

His view of the work was suddenly blocked by a man wearing a blue sweater, he didn’t lift his eyes to look at the man's face, knowing it was Hosea just from the way they stood “walk with me for a moment Arthur” his voice was calm and it made Arthur bite the inside of his lip, tasting blood as he slowly stood up from his chair.

He watched the linoleum floor as they walked, pale with light blue and pink squares, polished but still scratched and worn.

The automatic doors whooshed open and Arthur was hit in the face with a gust of crisp evening air, the linoleum giving way to concrete, painted yellow like people wouldn’t know this was the entrance without it.

Hosea had a light hold on his arm, guiding him away from the entrance and down a small path. From the corner of his eye, he saw flashing lights, an ambulance coming in carrying some poor bastard that probably got caught somewhere he shouldn’t have been.

The sight didn’t last long though as Hosea continued to lead him around the edge of the parking lot before pushing him to sit on a bench.

They were in a small garden now and this place had real blue, yellow, and pink flowers, in different pots hanging from those trellis hooks.

The low-hanging sun painted everything in a shade of burnt orange, deep shadows being cast by the hospital itself and the sparse trees around the little garden spot.

It was peaceful enough.

He caught Hosea moving from the corner of his eye, heard a lighter flick open, and could smell the pungent scent of tobacco smoke.

A hand on his shoulder made him look up, finally, and he saw Hosea's patient face watching him, holding out a cigarette between his fingers.

Swallowing he took it, his own hands shaking slightly as he lifted it and placed it between his lips, inhaling deeply and letting the smoke stay in his lungs for a moment, the nicotine calming him slightly before he exhaled.

Hosea had sat down at his side, patiently waiting with his hand staying on Arthur's hunched shoulder, a simple weight, anchoring him to the present.

They were silent for a long time, long enough for the cigarette to be smoked along with a second and a third before Arthur finally found the strength to talk.

“it was a fucking mess” he rasped, uncaring what his voice sounded like, it was just him and Hosea out there anyway “so I heard, can you tell me what happened?” Hosea's voice was soft but strong.

Something solid to lean against.

Folding his hands Arthur pressed his thumb back against his forehead again taking a deep, if shuddering breath and swallowing to speak around the lump in his throat “there were Pinkertons everywhere, and john he”

He stopped, throat clicking as he swallowed “they took him from our home, they tortured him and, they hung him, they” his eyes burned and his throat closed. Dropping his hands he covered his mouth wrapping his other arm around himself and curled forward.

His body was shaking, breaking apart under the weight of his guilt “this happened because of me” he rasped “because I brought him into this fucked up game, he might die because of me”

“he’s alive because of you” Hosea’s sharp voice cut through the anguish crowding Arthur's mind, making the blonde look at the man who was frowning at him.

“say what you want Arthur, about how john wound up in this situation, but you got him out of it, you found him and got him here so they could save his life” Hosea waved toward the hospital building and Arthur lowered his eyes “after I put it in danger”

Hosea made a sound almost like annoyance “the hows and the whys don’t matter son” Arthur sighed shakily and rubbed at his face again “what am I gonna do pa?” he finally asked and Hosea was touching him again “well first” he started, rubbing the back of Arthur's neck “you're going to change your clothes, surprised the staff aint called the authorities with the blood you got on ya”

Arthur shifted slightly, feeling how his clothing was stiff with blood “then your gonna stop listening to your brain and listen to your heart” Arthur closed his eyes “there's both sayin he’s in danger”

“and you’re the safest place he can be” the simple truth in that made Arthur duck his head, knowing he was right like he always was “do you love john, Arthur?” Hosea asked and the blonde lifted his head to look at the old man.

He opened his mouth to answer but Hosea spoke first “think about that before you answer boy, do you love john? Even when he makes you angry? Sad? Are you just with him because it's easy or because he makes it easy? Is it like breathing? Like flying without wings?” Hosea was building up to something, Arthur could tell with the way he was carrying on and gesturing with his hands.

Say what you want but the old man was a well-worded romantic at heart when he wanted to be.

“so much it hurts” he said and Hosea smiled, taking his hand away from Arthur's skin “then you’re the safest place he can be” Arthur smirked slightly with a light huff of a laugh before pushing himself up.

However, he paused before moving and looked at Hosea “there's something else” Hosea tilted his head for him to go on “john killed ross, they ain't gonna let that go”

Hosea laughed quietly “the boys tougher than I thought, they're not going to let any of this go, Arthur, I’ll talk to Dutch about it though, you need to get clean” Hosea shooed him.

Ducking his head he turned away.


End file.
